HP OMEN Transcend 14 review: Much more than a gaming laptop

This HP OMEN Transcend 14 review is where I see the creator-first gaming laptop take shape. The HP OMEN Transcend 14 is the world’s slimmest 14-inch gaming laptop. It also has the world’s first IMAX-enhanced display, a 2.8k OLED screen. Proper gamers probably don’t mind the weight but need power, so HP gave it an Intel Ultra chip, with RTX4060 Studio. It’s not the most hardcore “gaming” spec, but it gets the job done and still has some left to offer. Also Read: Best 8 Laptops Under Rs 35,000 For Creators, Students, And Office Workers: Check Lightweight And HD Display Laptops

For context, I was at the HP OMEN Transcend 16 launch last year when Vickram Bedi, Senior Director HP was on stage, talking about the OMEN series being “creator-first”. I reviewed the Transcend 16 within the next couple of weeks and it was nothing shy of a full-blown gaming laptop. Also Read: HP Omen 16 (2025) Gaming Laptop Debuts In India With RTX 5070 Ti GPU, 240Hz Display: Price, Specs, Features

So, who is the Transcend 14 for? Here’s a quick spec rundown to bring you up to speed, and a detailed HP OMEN Transcend 14 review to let you know the results of our testing.

HP OMEN Transcend 14 specifications

HP OMEN Transcend 14 review: Design

HP’s vision with the Transcend lineup is to create a creator-centric machine with the OMEN Transcend 14. As a result, the focus areas are slimness, aesthetics, and overall portability. The A, C, and D covers are aluminium, so it is a backpack-friendly laptop that won’t get easily damaged or bent.

There’s a center-split cooling vent that runs across its spine, so all the heat is rushed to the back, and the sides of the machine remain cool. The fast charging and display ports are also at the back, so the sides remain clean. However, achieving this level of slimness in a 14-inch gaming laptop is bound to come with certain compromises.

The first compromise is upgradeability. You can’t upgrade the RAM on the Transcend 14. So, you’ll have to go for the higher-spec variant to make it future-proof. Secondly, there’s a reason we need multiple heat vents with NVIDIA GPUs, and that’s because those things heat up. The single-vent approach looks great and makes the sides look clean but run Cyberpunk 2077 for more than 45 minutes and you’ll have the keyboard heat up enough to give it a rest.

Two more things you should know about the HP OMEN Transcend 14 design. It misses out on an SD card slot, which is odd since it is a creator-first laptop. There’s also a slight screen wobble while fast typing which could increase over time as the hinge loosens.

HP OMEN Transcend 14 review: Performance

Now that we know that the Transcend 14’s design is capping its performance, let me clarify its power before we move on to the display and keyboard bit. The Intel Ultra 7 series chip and RTX4060 are a good match in most cases. As you can see from the benchmarks above, there’s nothing you can throw at this laptop that will make it give up. It will struggle and claw, but it will get the job done.

My testing comprised streams of 4K video editing, AAA titles like RDR2 and Farcry 6, some office work and binge-watching Netflix. On a single charge, the HP OMEN Transcend 14 gives you around six to eight hours of video streaming and office work with multiple Chrome tabs.

4K video editing is no sweat, and AAA games run smoothly. However, the performance mode brings down the battery to less than two hours. And on turbo mode with the 140-watt USB-C charger plugged in, you can get the full power running games at max graphics. That’s when you’ll experience some heating around the keyboard area.

In a nutshell, the HP OMEN Transcend 14 easily handles office work, content creation, and casual gaming. But putting it on max settings will test the laptop’s thermals, heating it, but still giving you enough power to get the job done.

HP OMEN Transcend 14 review: Display and speakers

I tested the first HP laptop that came out with an IMAX-enhanced screen. This was from the Envy lineup, and the screen was too good for the price. That theme continues with the OMEN Transcend 14. It has a 2.8K, 120Hz OLED panel. Screen response time is under 0.2ms, which is good enough for competitive gaming.

Being an OLED panel, it is bright, sharp, and has deep colours. So, content creation and consumption are both pretty sorted on this machine. While some gamers and serious creators may prefer a bigger 16 or 18-inch display, this 14-inch form factor is the sweet spot between screen real estate and portability.

However, the multimedia experience is slightly hindered by the speakers. These are decent speakers with crisp and detailed output, but they sound a bit muffled. It isn’t a deal-breaker, but we’ve seen louder speakers and much more compact laptops from HP only. So, plug in your headphones or maybe connect a Bluetooth speaker and you’re good to go.

HP OMEN Transcend 14 review: Keyboard and trackpad

The HP OMEN Transcend 14 is the world’s first gaming laptop with a lattice-free keyboard. This was the sickest part of the machine the moment I looked at it. Especially in this white colour, the laptop looks cool too, but open the keyboard and it’s on another level altogether.

With the RGBs off, this will look and feel like a regular casual laptop, but turn on the RGBs, and you have four-zone lighting controls. While the lighting modes need more optimisation, the keyboard looks pretty with the RGB on. It is also comfortable to type on, but there’s a noticeable screen wobble when fast typing.

Coming to the trackpad, big, spacious, and responsive are the three words that sum it up. It supports multi-finger gestures and is a good trackpad for daily use. However, serious gamers and creators are likely to get an external mouse.

HP OMEN Transcend 14 review: Battery and connectivity

While battery performance is scattered throughout the article, here’s a summary. If you’re travelling with the HP OMEN Transcend 14, remotely working, you’ll get anywhere around 4.5 to seven hours of backup with mixed use. Crank up the brightness for a binge session and it drops to under 5 hours. And if you want to unlock the full potential, turbo mode while plugged in will deliver that, heating the machine in the process. However, it neither throttled nor became unbearably hot in our tests.

Coming to connectivity, you have WiFi 7, Bluetooth, and high-speed Thunderbolt ports. Most of the boxes are checked, but it misses out on an SD card slot, which would’ve made it more convenient for creators to copy footage.

HP OMEN Transcend 14 review: Verdict

I got a better idea about the usability of this device after reviewing the HP OMEN Transcend 16. The 16 is capable, upgradable, and decently specced, but it isn’t exactly usable on the fly. That’s where this laptop comes in. If you want a 14-inch device that handles anything you throw at it, and you want it at the right price, then this is a great option.

Tradeoffs include RAM upgradability, and more than usual heating when you run demanding games at max settings. So, if you’re a gamer first and creator second, I’d suggest you look at the Transcend 16 or explore alternatives from ASUS or Alienware, which will cost money.

Bottomline, the HP OMEN Transcend 14 is a thin, light, and smart laptop that will fit any space from an office meeting to a game bar. So, if you’re aiming for that machine, this one nails it.