Corsair's Voyager A1600 Laptop Is All AMD, With an Elgato Shortcut Bar

Corsair has taken the wraps off its first laptop. The popular PC gaming components and peripherals company has some experience in desktop design but has taken its time to put together a laptop it deems worthy for its pirate sails logo. Today, the Corsair Voyager A1600 AMD Advantage Edition launches, with up to an AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS (8C/16T) processor and Radeon RX 6800M GPU, built into a slim (0.78 inches thick) chassis with a 16-inch QHD+ IPS screen with up to 240 Hz refresh. Additionally, Corsair leverages its Elgato IP with a 10-Key Stream Deck shortcut bar, plus 1080p webcam and mic array to appeal to game streamers.

Buyers of the Corsair Voyager A1600 will be presented with two choices. The more powerful CN-9000004-XX SKU with AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS 8C/16T processor running at 4.8 GHz+, or the CN-9000003-XX with an AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS 8C/16T processor running at 4.4 GHz+. Both come with the very same configuration, except for their memory and storage quotas. The Ryzen 9 6900HS model ($2,999) comes with 64GB of DDR5 RAM and 2TB of PCIe 4.0 storage. Corsair's laptop with Ryzen 7 6800HS ($2,699) comes with half the RAM and storage. For a full dive into the tech specs, showing all the shared qualities and the differences, please check below.

With the above specs disclosed, now we can turn our attention to some of the qualities which might help make the Corsair Voyager A1600 laptop stand out from the crowd. First of all, it is an AMD Advantage laptop, which means the design uses a smart power-sharing methodology between the AMD CPU and GPU, which adapts to the task at hand. This works alongside other AMD technologies like AMD Smartshift Max and AMD Smart Access Memory.

With those CPUs and GPUs under the hood, the A1600 has plenty of power for resource-heavy applications and multitasking. Corsair assures that it has implemented an "advanced compact vapor chamber cooling system that evenly spreads heat," so the system shouldn't throttle and waste the potential of the processing power within.

The new Corsair Voyager A1600 is one of a growing breed of laptops with 16-inch screens. It offers a 2560×1600 (16:10) QHD+ IPS display with 240Hz max refresh, 3ms response time and support for AMD FreeSync Premium technology. We don't have any color, contrast or brightness specs, but Corsair touts "superb color accuracy."

Probably the next most important aspects of this design involve what old-timers might refer to as multimedia features. Corsair has leveraged its Elgato brand technology here with a set of 'S-Keys' just below the screen. There are ten of these keys for streaming, video-related, and custom shortcuts. Interestingly, the shortcuts are all accessible with the laptop lid closed. Other media-related goodies here are the streaming quality FHD webcam with Elgato Camera Hub software and an ambient noise-canceling microphone array. Built-in sound is provided by dual 20mm speakers with Dolby Atmos.

The keyboard uses mostly Cherry MX low profile switches, with membranes used for the less frequently typed half height keys. All the keys feature RGB backlighting, which is one of the many aspects of this laptop which can be customized via the company's iCUE software.

Corsair's port selection seems to be ample for the slim design, but focuses on Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C, so there's just one USB-A port, and you will have to have USB-C external monitors (or adaptors) if you wish to hook up to a big screen (or two).

It is good to see Corsair sail ahead with something different, not just a me-too white box laptop that has been rebadged. These laptops have been announced and outline specs provided, but there will be a hard launch in the summer when we should learn about availability, as well as full screen specs. We hope to put the Voyager A1600 through our full suite of tests in a full review at some point soon to find out if Corsair's first gaming portable is worthy of a spot on our best gaming laptops list.