The HP OMEN Transcend 14 (2024) is a 14-inch gaming and workstation laptop. It's available with an Intel Core Ultra 7 or Core Ultra 9 CPU and various NVIDIA discrete GPUs, ranging from an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 to an RTX 4070. RAM and storage max out a 32GB and 2TB, respectively. It has a 120Hz 2.8k OLED display with Dynamic Refresh Rate support, a 1080p webcam, Wi-Fi 7 wireless connectivity, and a 71Wh battery. Ports include two USB-As, two USB-Cs (one with Thunderbolt 4 support), an HDMI 2.1, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. You can get this laptop in a Shadow Black or Ceramic White color scheme. The keyboard backlighting is also customizable; you can choose between a 4-zone or per-key RGB backlight.
See our unit's specifications and the available configuration options in the Differences Between Variants section.
The HP OMEN Transcend 14 is good for school use. It feels well-built, and its compact design makes it easy to carry around. It also provides a great user experience with its sharp OLED display, tactile keyboard, and large, responsive touchpad. Performance is great; it's configurable with Intel Core Ultra CPUs and NVIDIA discrete GPUs that can easily handle demanding workloads, making it suitable for students in fields like graphic design, programming, or 3D animation. Plus, the fans are quiet, so you don't have to worry about causing too much noise in a classroom or library. Its main drawback is battery life, as it lasts only around six to seven hours of light use.
The HP OMEN Transcend 14 is a great gaming laptop. It's available with Intel Meteor Lake CPUs and NVIDIA 40-series GPUs, which are fast enough to deliver a relatively smooth gaming experience at 1080p or 1440p. Plus, it doesn't get hot or loud under load. Its OLED display has a 120Hz refresh rate to provide better responsiveness when gaming, although its response time is on the slower side, resulting in visible ghosting behind fast-moving objects. It also lacks FreeSync and G-SYNC support, so you'll likely see some screen tearing. The keyboard feels very tactile, so you know when you've actuated a key. The downside is that while it has backlighting, the light doesn't shine through the legends, making them hard to see in the dark.
The HP OMEN Transcend 14 is good for media consumption. It's very portable, thanks to its compact design, and its battery lasts around six hours of video playback, giving you plenty of time to get through multiple movies and TV show episodes. Its OLED display looks sharp, bright, and colorful, and it can produce deep, inky blacks for a fantastic dark room viewing experience. The speakers get decently loud but lack bass and treble, so you're better off using headphones if you want the best audio quality.
The HP OMEN Transcend 14 is excellent for use as a workstation. Its Intel Meteor Lake CPU and NVIDIA discrete GPU have enough processing power to handle demanding tasks like video editing, programming, and 3D animation. You can also perform color-correction tasks, as it has a 2.8k OLED display with full DCI P3 coverage. The keyboard feels comfortable to type on for an extended period, and there are plenty of ports for peripherals and external displays, including a Thunderbolt 4 and HDMI 2.1 port. It doesn't get hot or loud under load, and while there's some thermal throttling, it's fairly minimal. Unfortunately, you can only get up to 32GB of soldered RAM, which might not be enough for some workloads.
The HP OMEN Transcend 14 is good for business use. This 14-inch model feels well-built and is easy to carry around, making it a great option for those who travel a lot. Working on this laptop feels great, as it has a sharp OLED display, a spacious and tactile keyboard, and a large, responsive touchpad. Its Intel CPU and NVIDIA discrete GPU can easily handle general productivity tasks like text processing, web browsing, spreadsheets, and presentations. There's even enough processing power for small business owners needing to do some photo or video editing. Unfortunately, the webcam is mediocre, as the image looks soft and overexposed, and the battery lasts only six to seven hours of light use.
We tested the HP OMEN Transcend 14 (model 14-fb0000ca) with an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H CPU, an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, 32GB of memory, and 1TB of storage. The CPU, GPU, memory, storage, and keyboard backlighting are configurable; the available options are in the table below.
Screen |
|
---|---|
CPU |
|
GPU |
|
Memory |
|
Storage |
|
Keyboard |
|
Color |
|
See our unit's label here.
The HP Omen Transcend 14 is a good laptop overall. It stands out for its sturdy build and compact design. It can't quite match the performance of other 14-inch gaming laptops on the market, but it's still a great option if you're willing to sacrifice a few frames for lower thermals and fan noise.
See our recommendations for the best gaming laptops, the best workstation laptops, and the best laptops for video editing.
The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2024) and the HP OMEN Transcend 14 (2024) are direct competitors in the high-end 14-inch gaming laptop market. They trade blows when it comes to the overall user experience; the G14's display has better reflection handling and G-SYNC support, while the OMEN has lower thermals and fan noise. As for GPU performance, although both laptops are available with the same GPUs, the G14's are faster, as they run at a slightly higher wattage.
While the HP OMEN Transcend 14 (2024) and the HP Spectre x360 14 (2024) are both 14-inch laptops with a lot of similarities, they're also very different, as the OMEN is a gaming/workstation laptop, whereas the Spectre is a general productivity 2-in-1 convertible. The Spectre has a much better webcam and longer battery life, and its display supports touch and pen input. However, the OMEN has a wider port selection and more processing power, making it more suitable for demanding workloads like video editing and 3D graphics.
The HP OMEN Transcend 14 (2024) and the Dell Alienware m16 R2 (2024) are both gaming laptops available with the same Intel Meteor Lake CPUs and NVIDIA discrete GPUs. The HP is more compact, making it a better option for on-the-go use, while the Dell has more processing power to deliver a smoother gaming experience, as its GPUs run at a higher wattage. The Dell's display is also better for gaming, as it has a higher refresh rate of 240Hz and supports G-SYNC. The HP's OLED display gets brighter, though, and it can produce deeper blacks for a better dark room viewing experience.
The HP OMEN Transcend 14 (2024) and the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 (2024) GU605 are both gaming laptops with Intel Meteor Lake CPUs and NVIDIA 40-series GPUs. The HP is a smaller, more compact model designed for on-the-go use, so it doesn't quite have the cooling capability of the ASUS, limiting its GPU configuration to an 80W RTX 4070. In contrast, the ASUS is configurable with up to an RTX 4090 running at 115W TGP (Total Graphics Power). Although both laptops have an OLED display, the ASUS model's panel is much better, as it has a higher refresh rate of 240Hz refresh rate and VRR support.
The HP OMEN Transcend 14 (2024) and the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2022) are both 14-inch gaming laptops. The HP is better for most uses; it has more processing power to deliver smoother gameplay and provides a better user experience with its sharp OLED display and low fan noise. It also has better ports, as it supports Thunderbolt 4 and HDMI 2.1. On the other hand, the ASUS laptop's display gets brighter to combat glare, and its battery lasts almost four hours longer in light uses.
The Dell XPS 14 (2024) and the HP OMEN Transcend 14 (2024) are very different laptops. The Dell is a productivity-focused model, while the HP is primarily a gaming laptop that can also double as your work laptop. Although both models can handle fairly demanding tasks, like video editing and 3D modeling, the HP will give you better performance, as it's configurable with up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070, while the Dell is only available with integrated graphics or an RTX 4050. The HP provides a better user experience overall, as its keyboard and touchpad are easier to use and adapt to. It also has a wider port selection to connect multiple peripherals and external displays. However, the Dell has a much better webcam and longer battery life.
The HP OMEN Transcend 14 is available in the Shadow Black or Ceramic white color scheme. See the bottom of the laptop here.
The HP OMEN Transcend 14 feels well-built overall. It has a full-aluminum chassis and feels hefty despite its compact size. However, there's a fair amount of flex on the lid, and the display twists when manipulating it. The keyboard deck also flexes, albeit not as much as the lid. The finish doesn't scratch easily, but like most dark-color finishes, it's a fingerprint magnet. There are no complaints about the feet; they feel solid and stick firmly to the bottom.
The HP OMEN Transcend 14 has a good hinge. It feels smooth when opening and closing the lid, with just the right amount of resistance to allow for a one-handed lift. Unfortunately, there's a fair amount of screen wobble when moving the laptop or typing heavily, and it's hard to set the screen in an exact position.
The HP OMEN Transcend 14's serviceability is sub-par. Accessing the internals is relatively easy; you only need to remove four Philips screws and undo the bottom panel's clips with a prying tool. Be careful, though, as the clips can break, especially near the center. Also, the screws are of two different sizes, so it's best to keep them organized to make the reassembly easier. The storage slot supports M.2 2280 PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSDs.
See the maintenance and service guide here.
The HP OMEN Transcend 14's 2.8k display looks very sharp and is well-suited for gaming, general productivity, media consumption, and content creation. Its 16:10 aspect ratio doesn't affect gaming much, but it's great for productivity, as the extra vertical space lets you see more information at once when reading a document or website, so you don't have to scroll as much. OLEDs are susceptible to permanent burn-in, especially with static elements like Windows' taskbar; however, it's unlikely to be an issue for those viewing varied content. Check out the Dell XPS 16 (2024) if you want a laptop with a bigger screen.
The HP OMEN Transcend 14 is only available with a 120Hz display. It doesn't feel quite as responsive as the displays on other gaming models, like the Dell Alienware m16 R2 (2024)'s 240Hz panel, but it's still better than the 60Hz screens typically found on productivity laptops. The response time is on the slower side, resulting in some visible ghosting behind fast-moving objects. This display supports Dynamic Refresh Rate, meaning it can change the refresh rate depending on what you're doing and whether you have the laptop plugged in to prolong battery life; however, it isn't the same as FreeSync and G-SYNC, so you'll likely still see some screen tearing when gaming.
The display's contrast ratio is effectively infinite since OLEDs can turn off individual pixels to produce perfect blacks. The posted contrast ratio is the measurement taken using the checkerboard pattern above. Measuring the contrast using a YouTube HDR video results in a higher contrast ratio of 121,670:1.
The display gets bright enough for use in most indoor settings but not outdoors in broad daylight. You may also have trouble seeing some content if there's light shining directly on the screen due to its glossy finish. It gets very dim at the lowest brightness setting, which is great for dark room viewing as it causes less eye strain.
The display's reflection handling is decent. Its glossy finish mainly struggles with bright light sources, like a lamp or open window during the day. The reflections are visible even with the screen at maximum brightness.
The display's horizontal viewing angle is decent. Like most OLED panels, colors shift fairly quickly as you move to the side.
The display's vertical viewing angle is decent. Again, color shift is the main issue when viewing from above or below. It isn't too bad if you're only viewing documents, but you'll have to look at the screen more or less straight on if you need perfect accuracy for color-critical work.
The display's accuracy is good out of the box. Most white balance inaccuracies are minor and hard to spot, but the color dE is high due to oversaturation. Some people may like this oversaturated look; it just isn't accurate. The gamma is too high throughout, making everything look darker.
The OLED display's color gamut is superb. It has full coverage of the sRGB and DCI P3 color spaces and near-full coverage of the Adobe RGB color space. It's suitable for media consumption, professional photo editing, as well as for viewing and producing SDR and HDR content.
The HP OMEN Transcend 14 has a great keyboard. The keys have a good amount of travel, require little force to actuate, and provide clear tactile feedback. They bounce back quite forcefully, which can be slightly tiring over an extended period. The layout feels spacious, though it might take some time to get used to it, as the edge-to-edge keycaps can lead to more typos. The keycaps have translucent edges similar to HyperX's pudding keycaps, allowing the backlight to shine through. Unfortunately, the backlight doesn't shine through the legends. You can get the laptop with a 4-zone or per-key RGB backlight.
The HP OMEN 14 has an excellent touchpad. While it could be a bit wider, the size is pretty good for a 14-inch laptop. It tracks movements and gestures, and there are no issues with palm rejection or actions like dragging and dropping over a long distance. The buttons feel a tad mushy and are only clickable in the bottom half of the touchpad.
The speakers get decently loud with minimal compression at higher volume levels. They have a vocal-forward tuning with very little bass or treble, so they're best suited for speech-heavy content rather than music.
The HP OMEN 14 has a mediocre webcam. The image looks soft, noisy, and overexposed. It also has an unnatural, overly warm tint. The microphone is great, though, as voices sound loud and clear, with almost no static or background noise.
The HP OMEN Transcend 14's port selection is excellent. Both USB-A ports support USB 3.2 Gen 2 data transfer speed of up to 10Gbps. The USB-Cs are slightly different in specs; the one on the laptop's left side supports USB 3.2 Gen 2, while the one at the back supports Thunderbolt 4 (up to 40Gbps). Both USB-Cs support DisplayPort 1.4 and Power Delivery—the latter lets you fast charge the laptop and other PD-compatible devices connected to the port. The HDMI is a true HDMI 2.1 port that can output a 4k @ 120Hz signal. This laptop charges over USB-C. You can use a third-party charger, but it has to be of a certain wattage (likely a minimum of 100W), and even then, HP will continually remind you to use an HP-branded power adapter. Lower-wattage chargers don't work at all.
The wireless adapter is an Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE200. You can also get the laptop with an Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX211.
The HP OMEN Transcend 14 is available with the following CPUs:
Both are high-performance CPUs from Intel's Meteor Lake family. Unlike Intel's 14th Gen processors (13th Gen Raptor Lake refreshes), these CPUs have two additional low-power E-cores (LP-E) to further improve efficiency and an NPU (Neural Processing Units) to handle AI-based tasks, like background-blurring on video calls. They can easily handle general productivity tasks, as well as more demanding workloads like gaming, programming, and video editing, though the experience won't be as smooth as on laptops with a higher wattage CPU—like the Dell Alienware m18 R2 (2024)'s Intel 14th Gen HX processors—and tasks will take longer to complete. The Core Ultra 7 and Core Ultra 9 have the same core composition, meaning they both have six performance cores, eight efficiency cores, and two low-power efficiency cores (6P+8E+2LP-E). Both CPUs have the same Neural Processing Units (NPU).
The HP OMEN Transcend 14 is available with the following GPUs:
The available GPUs range from entry-level (RTX 4050) to the mid-range RTX 4070. They all support the same features, like DLSS, ray tracing, Frame Generation, and NVIDIA Reflex. If you want to play all of your games at the display's native 2.8k resolution, it's best to get a model with an RTX 4070. The RTX 4060 can handle games at that resolution, but you'll have to play with most of the settings at or near minimum and rely on DLSS and Frame Generation to get playable frame rates. You'll have to lower the settings on models with an RTX 4070, too, just not as much. As for the RTX 4050, it's mainly for 1080p gaming. Again, you might be able to play at the 2.8k resolution in lighter games, like platformers and older or highly optimized titles, but only with the lowest graphical settings.
You can configure this laptop with 16GB or 32GB of RAM. The memory isn't user-replaceable.
You can configure this laptop with 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB of storage. The SSD is user-replaceable; the slot supports M.2 2280 PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSDs.
The HP OMEN Transcend 14's overall score in Geekbench 5 is outstanding. Its Intel Core Ultra 9 185H CPU and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 can handle a variety of productivity tasks and heavy multitasking. The Core Ultra 7 155H CPU is only slightly slower due to its lower clock speeds. Switching to the Performance mode doesn't impact the scores in Geekbench 5, as it only seems to affect gaming performance.
The HP OMEN Transcend 14 2024's overall score in Cinebench R23 is outstanding. The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H CPU can easily handle intensive, multi-threaded workloads and general heavy multitasking. This level of performance is somewhat middle of the pack when considering the entire market; it's certainly better than the low-wattage processors in most thin and light laptops but far behind high-wattage CPUs, like the Dell Alienware m18 R2 (2024)'s Intel Core i9-14900HX.
The HP OMEN Transcend 14 with an RTX 4060 GPU scores well in the Basemark GPU benchmark. As mentioned in the GPU section, the RTX 4060 and 4070 are suitable for 1440p gaming (or at the display's native 2.8k resolution); you just have to tweak the settings slightly more on the 4060 to get playable frame rates. The RTX 4050 is best suited for 1080p gaming, and even then, you might have to turn down some settings because it only has 6GB of VRAM. Switching to the Performance mode boosts the score significantly to 99,045, roughly a 15% increase.
Check out the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2024) if you want a similar laptop with a longer battery life.
Borderlands 3 runs decently well at 1080p on a model with an Intel Core Ultra 9 CPU and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 GPU. You can get well over 60 fps, even with high settings, but there are occasional stutters due to frame drops. The Performance mode increases the average frame rate to 87 fps with high settings and 188 fps with low settings, a 5% and 15% increase, respectively.
Here are some additional benchmarks in Red Dead Redemption 2 to give you a better idea of the performance on a Core Ultra 9 model paired with an RTX 4060:
Red Dead Redemption 2
Civilization VI runs very smoothly. Every CPU/GPU configuration can handle this and other similarly demanding games with no issues, even at the display's native 2.8k resolution. Switching to the Performance mode noticeably increases the average frame rate, boosting it to 208 fps (+13%) with high settings and 311 fps (+15%) with low settings.
Counter-Strike 2 runs well on the HP OMEN Transcend 14. There are stutters, but they don't happen all that often. Every CPU/GPU configuration can handle this and other similar games at 1080p or 1440p with no major issues. The Performance mode boosts the frame rate slightly to 208 fps with high settings and 356 fps with low settings, a 6% and 5% increase, respectively.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider runs well. The gameplay is smooth for the most part, though there are occasional stutters. Switching to the Performance mode increases the average frame rate to 116 fps (+6.8%) with high settings and 129 fps (+9%) with low settings. The large frametime spikes are scene changes and aren't representative of the performance.
The keyboard gets toasty under load around the number 6, but it isn't hot enough to cause discomfort. Switching to the Performance mode only raises the temperature by 1°C to 46°C, with no change in fan noise. The bottom of the laptop gets to 40°C, as you can see here.
The HP OMEN Transcend has many pre-installed applications, including:
The HP OMEN Transcend has a facial recognition IR camera. You can use it to log in quickly, authorize purchases in the Windows Store, and auto-fill saved passwords on supported websites.
This laptop has a built-in dongle that pairs with the HyperX Cloud III Wireless headset, so you don't have to use up one of the USB ports for the dongle.