Technologies

Corsair Voyager a1600 Review: This Gaming Laptop Has It All

Loaded with clever features you won’t find anywhere else, the Voyager is a treat for gamers, creators and streamers.

Corsair makes PC components, gaming accessories and gear for streamers. It also has a line of gaming desktops. The Corsair Voyager a1600 is its first gaming laptop and essentially combines all of the company’s product categories into one device.

The Voyager a1600 includes features from Corsair’s Elgato streaming hardware and software, RAM and storage from its components business and wireless tech from its gaming keyboards, mice and headsets. It’s a unique laptop made for gamers, creators and streamers.

With help from AMD, the Voyager a1600 has strong performance for gaming and creating, which is pretty great considering it’s only 19.8mm thick and weighs 5.3 pounds (2.4kg). The a1600 has also dramatically come down in price since its launch in late 2022, making it much easier to recommend for gamers looking to do it all from one laptop.

8.0

Corsair Voyager a1600 (Origin Pro Edition)

$1,934 at Origin PC

$2,000 at Corsair

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Like

Unique compact design
Built-in high-speed wireless for Corsair gaming accessories
Low-profile mechanical keyboard
Useful touch controls

Don’t Like

Corsair’s software, system tools can be confusing

Great hardware

Corsair has four configurations for the Voyager a1600 starting at $2,000, with an AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS, AMD Radeon 6800M graphics, 16GB DDR5 memory and a 1TB NVMe solid-state drive. It runs on Windows 11 Home. That’s $700 less than the original price. There are more options, though.

Origin PC, a custom PC-maker owned by Corsair, also sells the Voyager a1600. If you buy from Origin, the Voyager can be configured to your liking with up to 64GB of RAM and one or two SSDs with a variety of models and capacities to choose from. You can even have its black lid covered with one of 11 patterns.

The configuration I tested combines the Ryzen 7, the Radeon 6800M, 32GB of memory and a fast 2TB Samsung SSD for $2,420, which includes $65 for the faux-marble lid treatment. That’s more than $600 less than its original price. The better deal, though, is direct from Corsair because you can bump up to the Ryzen 9 for $2,350.

The laptop I tested lived up to AMD’s performance claims. Start up a game and the discrete graphics take over, driving frame rates screaming up over 100 per second on Guardians of the Galaxy and Shadow of the Tomb Raider on high settings at 1440p in our testing. On CS:GO, the laptop can hit over 280fps so you take full advantage of the display’s 240Hz refresh rate.

Under load and with the fans on full blast, the Voyager stays cool on the left and right sides of the laptop, keeping your hands comfortable while gaming. It does get warm down the middle of the keyboard, particularly toward the top. The fans are loud, but that’s what you get with thin, powerful laptops.

The a1600 has a large 99Wh battery that lasted 5 hours, 4 minutes on our streaming video battery rundown test with both the display brightness and volume through earbuds set to 50%. Though it comes with a 230-watt adapter for gaming power and charging, the Voyager can be charged via USB-C with a 100-watt adapter.

All configurations come with a 240Hz, 2,560×1,600-pixel, 16-inch IPS display. It’s a good screen overall, especially if your main concerns are a high refresh rate for smooth graphics and easier target tracking with 1440p gaming. But if you need wide color gamut coverage, it only hits 75% of Adobe RGB and DCI-P3, 69% NTSC and 97% sRGB, and brightness measured at 359 nits. For those times when you need something brighter with better color reproduction, it does have three USB-C ports with Thunderbolt support for an external display or three.

The combo of the big 16:10 display and the oddly tall hinges give the body a peculiar appearance — and unusual dimensions for squeezing into a backpack’s laptop compartment. The cutout below the display is there to accommodate the S-Key Macro Bar, a strip of 10 programmable macro keys with a small color display between them. The bar works with Elgato’s Stream Deck software, letting you create macro keys with simple drag-and-drop programming for everything from using OBS streaming software to opening an app or website to playing a sound effect to triggering a voice changer.

For the keyboard, Corsair used ultralow-profile Cherry MX mechanical switches. The clicky switch gives you nice tactile feedback for typing and gaming. Even though the keys are clicky, they aren’t so loud that you’d disturb anyone around you. And, naturally, there are lights. The keyboard has per-key RGB lighting, completely programmable with Corsair’s iCue software.

The smooth touchpad below it is gigantic. So large, in fact, that tapping the upper right corner of it two times shuts down the right half of the touchpad so you don’t accidentally move your cursor with your palm while gaming. A double tap in the upper left corner shuts the pad down entirely.

However, if you don’t want to use either, a receiver for Corsair’s Slipstream Wireless-compatible peripherals is built in. It supports up to three devices at once so you can connect a mouse, keyboard and gaming headset without having to connect three separate USB receivers. It’s like having the convenience of Bluetooth but with the low-latency speed and stability of a 2.4GHz wireless receiver.

Software to match

All of the great hardware packed in the Voyager wouldn’t be nearly as strong if it didn’t have some handy software to go with it. The AMD Radeon Software: Adrenalin Edition, for instance, has several options to get the most from the CPU and integrated and discrete graphics. Activate AMD SmartShift Max and the laptop will automatically balance power between the components depending if you need more performance from the GPU or processor.

Similarly, SmartShift Eco saves battery life by using the integrated graphics when the laptop’s unplugged and moves back to the discrete graphics when connected to the power adapter. There are several other features to experiment with to improve performance on or off battery power, reduce input lag and sharpen image detail.

Joining the Elgato Stream Deck is Corsair’s iCue software from its gaming peripherals. This app is used for changing the keyboard lights, making key assignments and connecting Corsair wireless mice, keyboards and headsets. Then there’s the Elgato Camera Hub that lets you get control of the built-in 1080p webcam so you can adjust brightness, saturation, exposure and white balance. All of this software, while helpful, can be a bit much to manage, and it doesn’t feel cohesive.

The camera’s image quality is good, a little on the noisy side, but sharp with good detail. (There’s also an IR camera for unlocking the laptop with face recognition and a sliding privacy shutter to block the camera entirely.) Audio in and out is solid. The upward-firing speakers that flank the keyboard are supported by Dolby Atmos processing and have a pleasing, clean sound. They’ll be fine for casual listening or conference calls. But for anything else, you’ll want external speakers or a headset (a pair by Corsair, perhaps). The integrated mics delivered impressive results, so streamers will sound good without an external mic.

The Corsair Voyager a1600 is more than just a pure gaming machine. It’s an all-in-one portable solution for gamers and streamers, sure. But even if you’re not planning to stream gameplay or be a creator, the Stream Deck software and assignable macro buttons come in handy for everything from ending a Zoom call to launching Spotify. Plus, it includes a one-year warranty and lifetime 24/7 tech support service.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for March 26, #549

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle No. 549 for Thursday, March 26.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

How good are you at unscrambling letters to make a new word out of an old one? Today’s Connections: Sports Edition requires you to do just that — for the purple category, naturally. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Touch ’em all!

Green group hint: It’s outta here!

Blue group hint: Working one’s way up to the majors.

Purple group hint: Unscramble these words.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Slang for home run.

Green group: MLB home run leaders in 2025.

Blue group: Minor league baseball leagues.

Purple group: Anagrams of MLB teams.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is slang for home run. The four answers are dinger, homer, jack and round-tripper.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is MLB home run leaders in 2025. The four answers are Judge, Ohtani, Raleigh and Schwarber.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is minor league baseball leagues. The four answers are Carolina, International, Pacific Coast and Texas.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is anagrams of MLB teams. The four answers are Bucs (Cubs), parties (Pirates), spread (Padres) and stem (Mets).

Toughest Connections: Sports Edition categories

The Connections: Sports Edition puzzle can be tough, but it really depends on which sports you know the most about. My husband aces anything having to do with Formula 1, my best friend is a hockey buff, and I can answer any question about Minnesota teams.

That said, it’s hard to pick the toughest Connections categories, but here are some I found exceptionally mind-blowing.

#1: Serie A Clubs. Answers: Atalanta, Juventus, Lazio, Roma.

#2: WNBA MVPs. Answers: Catchings, Delle Donne, Fowles and Stewart.

#3: Premier League team nicknames. Answers: Bees, Cherries, Foxes and Hammers.

#4: Homophones of NBA player names. Answers: Barns, Connect, Heart and Hero.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for March 26 #753

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for March 26, No. 753.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle should appeal to musicians of all kinds. Some of the answers are difficult to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: I blew it!

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: I’m in the band.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

NORM, CARL, MODE, MODES, LUTE, COME, COME, BEND, NITE, TINE, HARM

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

OBOE, FLUTE, CLARINET, RECORDER, HARMONICA

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is WINDINSTRUMENT. To find it, start with the W that is at the bottom of the far-left vertical row, and wind up and across.

Toughest Strands puzzles

Here are some of the Strands topics I’ve found to be the toughest.

#1: Dated slang. Maybe you didn’t even use this lingo when it was cool. Toughest word: PHAT.

#2: Thar she blows! I guess marine biologists might ace this one. Toughest word: BALEEN or RIGHT.

#3: Off the hook. Again, it helps to know a lot about sea creatures. Sorry, Charlie. Toughest word: BIGEYE or SKIPJACK.

Technologies

Ring Finally Goes Wire-Free for Its Latest 4K Video Doorbells

The launch of battery-powered versions of the company’s powerful AI doorbells has been highly anticipated.

Security company Ring on Wednesday announced a significant expansion of its video doorbell line, notably battery-powered versions of both its 4K and 2K models, priced from $80.

Both Amazon’s Ring and Google Nest debuted high-resolution video doorbells with new AI features in the fall of 2025. But they were wired only, and in my tests, I kept thinking, «I sure wish there were battery models available.»

Wireless video doorbells are far better for most front doors than models that require connecting to your existing doorbell wiring, which is often poorly positioned for a security camera. Mine, for example, is located on a wall beside my door that’s useless for any kind of video views, no matter how you angle a lens.

«Enhancing image quality in battery-powered doorbells means customers can enjoy reliable performance with the flexibility to install devices in a way that suits their space, whether renting or living in homes without existing wiring,» a Ring spokesperson said.

At first, I wondered whether the higher 4K resolutions and more advanced AI features would use too much power to support batteries. If so, Ring is the first to fix that issue with this suite of doorbells, including these models available for preorder right now:

Ring Battery Doorbell Pro — $250: This model offers up to 4K resolution and 10x zoom, and Ring says it features a redesigned internal architecture to support battery power.
Ring Battery Doorbell Plus (2nd-gen) — $180: This model includes a quick-release battery pack along with 2K video.
Ring Battery Doorbell (2nd-gen) — $100: This video doorbell includes 2K video, a 6x zoom and what Ring calls a «streamlined, rechargeable design,» which means you take the entire video doorbell to charge it, not just the battery — a design I greatly prefer, since Ring’s battery packs can get fiddly.

There’s also a new version of a Ring wired doorbell with 2K resolution, starting at $80. It wouldn’t be Ring without a plethora of doorbell devices to confuse newcomers, which is why I have a guide specifically for Ring video doorbells that will need some updating once I finish testing these new models.

Resolution plus an intelligence upgrade

Ring’s ordinary subscriptions of the Ring Protect plan give you cloud video storage and intelligent alerts for people, packages and vehicles, which are important but not really advanced AI. But spring for the $20-per-month Ring AI Pro cam, and this new generation of cameras opens up other capabilities.

Ring’s AI features include AI video descriptions, so if you get an alert, you can also get a summary of what the doorbell saw, including people and activities. A similar feature lets you search your video history with specific terms, such as «bike,» «truck» and so on. You also get the beta version of Ring’s Familiar Faces feature, which can ID logged faces of people who approach.

If these AI features make you uneasy and you’d rather protect your privacy, the best option is to avoid a subscription altogether or choose a lower-tier plan that gives you cloud storage without AI.

I also have a guide on how to turn off Ring’s detection and data-sharing features that might make you nervous, so you can keep what you like while ditching what you don’t.