Corsair’s first laptop has a MacBook Touch Bar-like strip for streamers

Last year, Apple ditched the capacitive touch strips at the top of its MacBook Pro decks, giving Corsair plenty of room to use a similar input bar. Corsair seems to think it has put the design to good use by incorporating it into its first laptop that was built with streaming in mind.

Corsair has made a name for itself in the gaming desktop market, but the Corsair Voyager a1600 AMD Advantage Edition, which was announced today, marks the first foray by the gaming brand, also known for its PC peripherals and DIY components, into Corsair-branded laptops. The move comes about two years after the company acquired boutique computer maker Origin.

In its announcement, Corsair said the 16-inch clamshell is for “aspiring content creators, avid gamers, or regular streamers.”As such, it features a 1080p webcam with a physical shutter, four noise-canceling microphones on the sides and a colorful “macrobar with center LCD”, and a colorful programmable touch keyboard.

The panel has 10 keys for programming frequently used functions of the Elgato Stream Deck software, which Corsair also owns as a result of the acquisition. One-touch access to things like switching scenes, adjusting volume, launching media or a game macro can be a lifesaver in the busy world of live video, and the laptop even lets you use the controls even when the clamshell is closed.

The versatility of the Elgato Stream Deck also means you can find uses for these buttons outside of the world of streaming, such as controlling smart lights, taking a screenshot, opening an app, or controlling Zoom. Just don’t forget which number key is for which function.

It’s hard not to notice the bright battery indicator. It provides a clear reading of the battery status; though since this is a power-hungry gaming laptop, you’ll probably plug it in when you’re doing something serious like streaming or gaming.

The Corsair Voyager a1600 joins the Dell XPS 13 Plus in resurrecting Apple-like touchpads on keyboards. Corsair is taking a more niche approach, targeting a new era of streamers and gamers open to flashy, potentially trendy technology and already using things like Elgato Stream Deck hardware or macro keyboards. Corsair doesn’t force a touchpad on its favorite product either.

Perhaps the Voyager a1600’s built-in wireless receiver is more attractive. This is similar to having a Corsair wireless dongle built into a laptop, meaning up to three peripherals using Corsair’s Slipstream wireless USB dongle technology to work without a dongle. This requires more commitment to the Corsair ecosystem than most, but it’s still a new concept that I’d like to expand on, especially if Corsair successfully implements it without distracting lag or connection drops.

Otherwise, Corsair built the Voyager a1600 as a rugged AMD gaming PC with an AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS 8-core, 16-thread CPU up to 4.7GHz, AMD Radeon RX 6800M 32GB graphics (Corsair brand) DDR5 and 2 TB PCIe 4.0 SSD. Those specs will cost $3,000, but the laptop will cost $2,700.

The Corsair PC also features a fast 16:10 IPS screen with a resolution of 2560×1600 pixels and a refresh rate of 240Hz. Corsair didn’t give specifics, but said the laptop will use “an advanced compact vapor chamber cooling system that distributes heat evenly, delivering cooler temperatures with a thinner profile than traditional cooling methods.”

The debut of the laptop is expected this summer.