To complement its marquee 16-inch gaming laptop, HP has announced the Omen Transcend 14, a super-light machine with Intel’s Core Ultra processors and Nvidia graphics, as part of its Transcend gaming lineup.
Despite its compact size, this laptop rides with up to an Intel Core 9 Ultra chip, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 GPU, and an OLED display. Considering how sleek and compact the chassis is, it’s an appealing combination on paper, and it's available for pre-order today starting at $1,499.99.
We were able to spend some time with the Transcend 14 ahead of its unveiling at CES 2024, as you can see in the video above, with more details below.
A 14-Inch Gaming Super-Light
HP claims this is the lightest 14-inch gaming laptop available, so if you’re looking for an especially portable system, this may be it. The Transcend 14 comes in at 0.7 by 12.3 by 9.2 inches (HWD) and 3.6 pounds, making it very easy to tuck under your arm or throw in any bag for your commute, jaunt across campus, or stroll through the office.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)That portability idea is at the core of who this laptop is for: You want a gaming machine, but as a student or creative, would also like something you can take anywhere and still get work done. The components are key to that, which we’ll get to in a moment, but the display is also a key point of appeal.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)Those gamers and creators will both appreciate the OLED panel, with a 2.8K (2,880-by-1,800-pixel) resolution, a 120Hz refresh rate, 500 nits maximum brightness, and a claim to 100% DCI-P3 color coverage. Between the edge-to-edge glass and brilliant OLED vibrancy, this is a glitzy screen. Nestled into such a compact chassis, the effect is attractive in person.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)As touched on in the video, the keycaps have translucent edges, through which the customizable RGB lighting can shine through. I don’t think everyone will necessarily love this—it can look a bit more "budget" than "premium"—but it does make the laptop stand out. It looks pleasant against the white shell, too. This laptop is also available in black.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)For connectivity, the Transcend 14 provides a USB Type-C port with Thunderbolt 4 support, another USB-C connection, two USB Type-A ports, an HDMI connection, and a headphone jack. This laptop supports Wi-Fi 7, and it features a 1080p webcam, both of which should support your mobile work efforts.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)Portable Power With Intel Meteor Lake Processing, Nvidia RTX Graphics
As mentioned, the internal parts make or break any gaming laptop, especially one aiming to prioritize portability. A thin chassis puts up roadblocks to performance, but the chosen components should be up to the task.
The Transcend 14 uses Intel’s new Core Ultra “Meteor Lake” processors, which are making noise at CES 2024 given their built-in NPUs (neural processing units). In addition to the usual sections of the silicon that handle processing and integrated graphics tasks, the NPU is ready to take on local AI workloads in the background, so that the CPU isn’t slowed from doing too many things at once.
(Credit: Intel)In particular for this laptop, the processor options are the Core Ultra 7 155H or the Core Ultra 9 185H. The Transcend 14 goes up to 32GB of memory and 2TB of SSD storage. We haven't tested this laptop yet, of course, but we did have the chance to put a first Core Ultra chip through testing.
The GPU side is even more important for gaming, and despite the compact form, this machine has a decent power ceiling. Your options are Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 4050, RTX 4060, or RTX 4070. With no new Nvidia mobile GPUs expected to debut at the show, these are still the latest laptop options, and this is not the type of laptop to support the powerhouse RTX 4080 or RTX 4090.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)These parts should result in a more-than-competent portable gaming laptop, which is the aim. An RTX 4070 in this system won’t provide the same power it may in a larger 16- or 18-inch laptop (we were not provided the exact wattage), but it should still cruise to 60fps-plus frame rates in most scenarios.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)The base model won’t blow anyone away with blistering performance, but for the starting cost, it looks capable enough, too. We’ll have to put the HP Omen Transcend 14 through its paces when a unit becomes available, so check back for a full review shortly.