Corsair’s first gaming laptop ever has a touchbar

Corsair, having been a leader in the desktop field for decades, is releasing its first gaming laptop ever. The new Voyager a1600 is an AMD powerhouse equipped with both the Ryzen 6000 series processors and the AMD Radeon RX 6000 series. The device is Corsair’s first investment in mobile hardware after acquiring enthusiast PC builder Origin in 2019.

We do not know with complete certainty what this device will look like yet, as the images Corsair has given us are only reproductions, and we only got a brief look under AMD’s Computex keynote. Anyway, take a look and a feature is likely to pop out on you: there is a touch bar.

*A closer look at a real Corsair Voyager.*

Of course, this row of shortcut buttons above the keyboard deck is not called a “touch bar”. Corsair described it specifically to me as “ten easily accessible, custom S-key shortcut buttons.” The good thing is that this set of 10 easily accessible, customizable S-key shortcut buttons adds extra keys to the keyboard – it actually does not replace the function range, which is a choice some … other manufacturers have made with mixed reception.

These S keys are powered by Elgato Stream Deck software, which means you’re likely to use them for various live streaming controls, including switching scenes, launching media, and adjusting audio. We would not necessarily expect a laptop to be the preferred device for many streamers, but it’s still an interesting idea that is unusual in the gaming area – and can also work well as a Zoom meeting controller.

It also appears that you can access these touch buttons while the laptop is closed. I like that you could see the battery indicator before you open it, but I wonder if buttons are potentially bumped while the laptop is in a backpack or something. We know more about how these buttons work when we get our fingers in the device (which should be sometime in July, Corsair says).

Elsewhere, Voyager will include a full-size Cherry MX low-profile mechanical keyboard with RGB backlight per second. key as well as a 1080p FHD webcam. I see what looks like a physical webcam shutter in these renderings, which may be a good sign that Corsair is making an effort in this area (which not all game makers do).

Potential Voyager buyers will be able to choose between a Ryzen 7 6800HS and a Ryzen 9 6900HS – both configurations come with a Radeon 6800M GPU. You can get up to 64 GB of RAM (Corsair Vengeance DDR5, of course) and 2 TB of storage space. The device has a 16-inch 2560 x 1600, 240Hz screen and two Thunderbolt 3 USB 4.0 ports, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, a USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, an SDXC 7.0 card reader and an audio jack.

It’s not surprising to see Corsair follow in the footsteps of Razer, another gaming hardware company that expanded into the enthusiasm for laptops after a build and buy tour. Corsair has made a number of recent acquisitions, including Elgato, peripheral maker Scuf Gaming and Origin, and it looks set to expand its reach to users who do not necessarily want to build their own systems.

The quality and success of this laptop may be our first clue as to how well that expansion will go. Origin has previously made decent PCs and is particularly notable for the customization options of the systems they sell. It will be interesting to see how configurable the new Corsair machine is and how well these design choices go into the enthusiast space.