Why You Can Trust CNET HP Omen Transcend 14 Is More Versatile Than Your Average Gaming Laptop
The cool, little 14-inch laptop aims to cover your creative and gaming needs without standing out too much in a conference room.
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Thinner, lighter gaming laptops aren't new, but a lot more of them are made to fit in at work or school while still having strong gaming performance and a display good enough for content creation. That's where the HP Omen Transcend 14 falls. It's an understated little laptop that's light enough for a daily commute but runs on up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H and up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 and is built around a 14-inch 2.8K OLED display with a 48-120Hz variable refresh rate.
The Omen Transcend line sits between HP's more budget-friendly Victus laptops and the larger and more powerful Omen line. The new 14-inch size starts at $1,500 and is expected to be available to preorder on Jan. 8. A 16-inch version will also be available with the option for a 4K 240Hz OLED starting at $1,900.
The Transcend 14 has built-in ultralow-latency 2.4GHz wireless for connecting the HyperX Cloud III gaming headset.
The 14-inch laptop weighs only 3.6 pounds (1.6 kilograms) -- light for a gaming laptop -- and HP says its battery life is good for up to 11.5 hours with the integrated graphics and an Eco mode. You won't get that much life while gaming, but getting through most of a work day without an outlet is pretty great. Plus, the laptop's USB-C 140-watt power adapter can bring the laptop up to 50% in 30 minutes.
A USB-C port is in the rear along with an HDMI 2.1 output, so your power and display cables won't clutter up your desk. There is also a Thunderbolt 4 USB-C port and two USB-A ports. There's no microSD or SD card slot, though, which is disappointing given HP targeting creatives with this model.
The Transcend 14 keyboard will be available with four-zone RGB lighting to start. A per-key RGB lighting option will come this spring.
Gaming-accessories brand HyperX, which is owned by HP, got involved with the keyboard design and audio. The Omen Transcend 14 is the first gaming laptop with audio tuned by HyperX. The laptop also has ultralow-latency 2.4GHz wireless for connecting the HyperX Cloud III gaming headset without the need for a wireless dongle. (It would've been nice if it had the bandwidth for a wireless gaming mouse and keyboard, but no.)
The keyboard is its first lattice-less design, so the keycaps are essentially edge to edge. However, the keycaps are modeled after HyperX's pudding caps for mechanical keyboards, which gives each key a bright glowing border. The Transcend 14 will be available with four-zone RGB lighting or, later this spring, per-key RGB lighting.
HP says the Transcend 14 is the world's coolest 14-inch gaming laptop.
Lastly, keeping a thin gaming laptop cool isn't easy. To help the Transcend 14 run at peak performance is a new cooling system co-engineered with Intel. The chassis pulls in air and, using a vapor chamber, creates a pressurized zone to blast heat out through the rear vents. This system makes it the coolest 14-inch gaming laptop in the world, HP said in its announcement. We shall see if that claim is true soon enough.