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

Google races to put Gemini at the center of Android before Apple’s AI reboot

Google is using its latest Android rollout to position Gemini as the AI layer across phones, Chrome, laptops and cars.

Google is using its latest Android rollout to make Gemini less of a chatbot and more of an operating layer across the phone, browser, car and laptop, just weeks before Apple is expected to show its own Gemini-powered Apple Intelligence reboot at WWDC.
Ahead of its Google I/O developer conference next week, the company previewed a number of Android updates, including AI-powered app automation, a smarter version of Chrome on Android, new tools for creators, a redesigned Android Auto experience, and a sweeping set of new security features.
Alphabet is counting on Gemini to help Google compete directly with OpenAI and Anthropic in the market for artificial intelligence models and services, while also serving as the AI backbone across its expansive portfolio of products, including Android. Meanwhile, Gemini is powering part of Apple’s new AI strategy, giving Google a role in the iPhone maker’s reset even as it races to prove its own version of personal AI on the phone is further along.
Sameer Samat, who oversees Google’s Android ecosystem, told CNBC that Google is rebuilding parts of Android around Gemini Intelligence to help users complete everyday tasks more easily.
“We’re transitioning from an operating system to an intelligence system,” he said.
As part of Tuesday’s announcements. Google said Gemini Intelligence will be able to move across apps, understand what’s on the screen and complete tasks that would normally require a user to jump between multiple services. That means Android is moving beyond the traditional assistant model, where users ask a question and get an answer, and acting more like an agent.
For instance, Google says Gemini can pull relevant information from Gmail, build shopping carts and book reservations. Samat gave the example of asking Gemini to look at the guest list for a barbecue, build a menu, add ingredients to an Instacart list and return for approval before checkout.
A big concern surrounding agentic AI involves software taking action on a user’s behalf without permissions. Samat said Gemini will come back to the user before completing a transaction, adding, “the human is always in the loop.”
Four months after announcing its Gemini deal with Google, Apple is under pressure to show a more capable version of Apple Intelligence, which has been a relative laggard on the market. Apple has long framed privacy, hardware integration and control of the user experience as its advantages.
Google’s Android push is designed to show it can bring AI deeper into the device experience while still giving users control over what Gemini can see, where it can act and when it needs confirmation.
The app automation features will roll out in waves, starting with the latest Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel phones this summer, before expanding across more Android devices, including watches, cars, glasses and laptops later this year.
The company is also redesigning Android Auto around Gemini, turning the car into another major surface for its assistant. Android Auto is in more than 250 million cars, and Google says the new release includes its biggest maps update in a decade and Gemini-powered help with tasks like ordering dinner while driving.
Alphabet’s AI strategy has been embraced by Wall Street, which has pushed the company’s stock price up more than 140% in the past year, compared to Apple’s roughly 40% gain. Investors now want to see how Gemini can become more central to the products people use every day.
WATCH: Alphabet briefly tops Nvidia after report of $200 billion Anthropic cloud deal

Technologies

Waymo recalls 3,800 robotaxis after glitch allowed some vehicles to ‘drive into standing water’

Waymo issued a voluntary recall of about 3,800 of its robotaxis to fix software issues that could allow them to drive into flooded roadways.

Waymo is recalling about 3,800 robotaxis in the U.S. to fix software issues that could allow them to “drive onto a flooded roadway,” according to a letter on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s website.
The voluntary recall is for Waymo vehicles that use the company’s fifth and sixth generation automated driving systems (or ADS), the U.S. auto safety regulator said in the letter posted Tuesday.
Waymo autonomous vehicles in Austin, Texas, were seen on camera driving onto a flooded street and stalling, requiring other drivers to navigate around them. It’s the latest example of a safety-related issue for the Alphabet-owned AV unit that’s rapidly bolstering its fleet of vehicles and entering new U.S. markets.
Waymo has drawn criticism for its vehicles failing to yield to school buses in Austin, and for the performance of its vehicles during widespread power outages in San Francisco in December, when robotaxis halted in traffic, causing gridlock.
The company said in a statement on Tuesday that it’s “identified an area of improvement regarding untraversable flooded lanes specific to higher-speed roadways,” and opted to file a “voluntary software recall” with the NHTSA.
“Waymo provides over half a million trips every week in some of the most challenging driving environments across the U.S., and safety is our primary priority,” the company said.
Waymo added that it’s working on “additional software safeguards” and has put “mitigations” in place, limiting where its robotaxis operate during extreme weather, so that they avoid “areas where flash flooding might occur” in periods of intense rain.
WATCH: Waymo launches new autonomous system in Chinese-made vehicle

Technologies

Qualcomm tumbles 13% as semiconductor stocks retreat from historic AI-fueled surge

Semiconductor equities reversed sharply after a broad AI-driven advance, with Qualcomm suffering its worst day since 2020 amid inflation concerns and rising oil prices.

Semiconductor stocks fell sharply on Tuesday, reversing course after an extensive rally that had expanded the artificial intelligence investment theme well past Nvidia and driven the industry to unprecedented levels.

Qualcomm plunged 13% and was on track for its steepest single-day decline since 2020. Intel shed 8%, while On Semiconductor and Skyworks Solutions each lost more than 6%. The iShares Semiconductor ETF, which benchmarks the overall sector, fell 5%.

The sell-off came after a key gauge of consumer prices came in above forecasts, and as conflict in Iran pushed crude oil higher—prompting investors to shift away from riskier assets.

The preceding advance had widened the AI opportunity set beyond longtime industry leader Nvidia, which for much of the past several years had largely carried the market to new peaks on its own.

Explosive appetite for central processing units, along with the graphics processing units that power large language models, has sent chipmakers to all-time highs.

Market participants are wagering that the shift from AI model training to autonomous agents will lift demand for additional AI hardware. Among the beneficiaries are memory chip producers, which are raising prices as supply remains tight.

Micron Technology slid 6%, and Sandisk cratered 8%. Sandisk’s stock has surged more than six times over since January.