We take a look at & benchmark the HP Omen Transcend 14 gaming laptop computer with Nvidia RTX 4070 GPU, Intel Core Extremely 9-185H CPU, and a pair of.8K OLED show
Up to date: Jul 24, 2024 10:19 am
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Desk of Contents
Desk of Contents
The HP Omen Transcend 14 is a model new entry within the 14-inch gaming laptop computer area in 2024, the corporate’s first try and tackle the competitors on this dimension class. It packs a colourful OLED display screen and a slick slimline profile, so it guarantees to bridge the hole between slick productiveness machine and gaming gadget. Not like competing fashions from different manufacturers, it additionally packs one of many new Intel Core Extremely processors, so we have been desperate to see the way it carried out when benchmarked. Learn beneath for our detailed assessment!
Specs
CPU: Intel Core Extremely 7 155H / Extremely 9 185H
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 / RTX 4060 / RTX 4070
RAM: 16GB/32GB DDR5 RAM
Storage: 512GB/1TB/2TB SSD
Display Measurement: 14”
Max Refresh Fee: 120Hz
Decision: 2880 x 1800
Panel Sort: OLED
Touchscreen?: No
Weight: 3.6lbs
Ports: 2x USB-C (one with Thunderbolt 4 & charging), 2x USB-A, 1x HDMI, 1x 3.5mm headphone jacx
Present extra
What We Suppose
As an try and create the right transportable gaming and productiveness gadget, the HP Omen Transcend 14 is superb in some ways: with an outstanding OLED display screen, transportable dimension, good aesthetic design, and strong battery life. Sadly, the laptop computer is in the end fairly weak in gaming, thanks mainly to the constraints of the Intel Core Extremely CPU. Nonetheless, in case you can choose one up for a very good value it’s positively nonetheless price a purchase.
Professionals
vibrant OLED show with unbeatable distinction
unbelievable response time
wonderful colour replication
nice battery life
skinny, light-weight and transportable
USB-C charging
Cons
CPU throttling causes stuttering in some video games
comparatively low TGP graphics card
No MUX change
soldered RAM can’t be upgraded
Pricing
On the time of writing, the variant of the laptop computer we examined may be picked up from Finest Purchase for $1,999.99 or probably even cheaper in an HP retailer sale, though the unique MSRP was $2,329. This will get you an RTX 4070 graphics card, Core Extremely 9-185H processor, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and 1TB of SSD storage. Cheaper loadouts are additionally out there, with the RTX 4060 and Core Extremely 7-155H variant (with 16GB of RAM however the identical storage) going for $1,699.99, and an RTX 4050 model (with the identical specs in addition to this) going for $1,499.99.
When it comes to how this compares to the market, it’s roughly in-line with the present pricing of the 2024 ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14, which has an identical show plus RTX 4070 and RTX 4060 variants for related pricing. In comparison with the usually overpriced Razer Blade 14, it’s significantly cheaper. It ought to be famous nonetheless that the TGP of the graphics playing cards in these competing laptops is larger, which generally interprets to raised in-game efficiency. Extra on this beneath.
General Design
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The HP Omen Transcend 14 is a really good wanting laptop computer, at the very least the white model we have been despatched; being pretty minimalist however with some good little particulars. We had some issues after seeing the laptop computer at CES 2024 concerning the translucent RGB which surrounds every key on the keyboard, with it wanting a bit low cost compared to the slick total look of the gadget, however in opposition to the white colour it seems to be completely fantastic.
The construct high quality on many of the important physique of the laptop computer feels respectable, because it does on the keyboard, nonetheless there are some areas the place the laptop computer feels low cost and flimsy: particularly the trackpad, the display screen bezel, and to an extent the hinges. We have been capable of virtually pull again the bezel on the highest of the display screen with a little bit of power, the facet of the trackpad closest to the consumer looks like it will break over time after one too many clicks, and the pretty noticeable display screen wobble belies hinges which ought to really feel sturdier. We will’t know for certain how these areas would maintain up over time after all, however for this amount of cash we’d have anticipated one thing a bit extra reassuring.
Weighing in at 3.635lbs/1.649kg the laptop computer itself is pretty mild, although significantly heavier than the 1.48lbs ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14, nonetheless the facility adapter on the Transcend 14 is sort of a bit lighter than that on the ASUS laptop computer, so the mixed weight finally ends up being fairly related (4.707lbs on the Transcend 14 vs 4.54lbs for the G14).
When it comes to the scale the Transcend 14 has just about equivalent thickness to the Razer Blade 14 on the thickest level (18mm), with each being barely (round 2mm) thicker than the 16.3mm Zephyrus G14.
Laptop computer weight: 3.635lbs/1.649kg, Energy adapter weight: 1.0715lbs/0.486kg, Mixed weight: 4.707lbs/2.135kg, Dimensions: 12.3″ x 9.1″ x 0.7″
Sadly, like quite a lot of ultraslim laptops of this dimension, the RAM is soldered on, so what you’ve it geared up with whenever you initially purchase it’s what you get. There is just one M.2 slot that’s stuffed by the SSD you order the machine with, though this may be upgraded to a bigger one at a later date. The max Wattage of the facility adapter is 140W, and, as talked about, the TGP of the graphics card is restricted to 80W, even in case you go for the max-specced RTX 4070 mannequin like we had, that means that in comparison with different RTX 4070 laptop computer GPUs it will likely be significantly weaker.
The keyboard is your typical membrane, chiclet fashion affair, and we discovered it to be a really good typing expertise, with few typing errors due to the great huge keys and their placement. We didn’t expertise any discomfort after an extended interval of use, and the sound of the keys is fairly quiet, while additionally nonetheless being fairly satisfying. When it comes to gaming we had no points in anyway with the keyboard, though some might clearly favor to make use of a extra gaming-focused mechanical board. The trackpad as talked about, doesn’t really feel essentially the most sturdy in its building however in addition to that we had no points with it: it felt satisfying to click on and responsive when shifting the cursor.
The audio system have been of a good high quality, definitely loads higher than your common gaming laptop computer, though in comparison with the superb audio system on the 2024 model of the Zephyrus G14 (which have set a brand new customary for gaming laptops) they don’t evaluate. Peak quantity on the audio system was pretty excessive with no noticeable lack of audio high quality, the general tone felt fairly wealthy and heat, although as is usually the case bass replication was very restricted.
Webcam high quality was good, with the utmost high quality 1080p 30FPS video footage (with both 50Hz or 60Hz flicker discount) being crisp and clear. The microphone high quality was extra mediocre, however nonetheless pretty serviceable.
Display
The 14-inch display screen comes with the now typical (for 14” fashions) 16:10 facet ratio that offers you a bit extra vertical headroom: helpful for studying paperwork, internet pages, articles and so on. The 2880 x 1800 decision (usually known as 2.8K) provides a really sharp picture certainly and from a subjective perspective the OLED display screen actually pops.
The 120Hz most refresh fee of the display screen successfully caps the efficient FPS you’ll be able to take pleasure in in video games to 120, although that is completely fantastic for the typical gamer (critical aggressive gamers would in all probability look elsewhere anyway) and we haven’t but seen a 14-inch OLED panel transcend this.
As you’ll be able to see above, the laptop computer met HP’s claims of 100% sRGB and DCI-P3 colour gamut protection, and confirmed 98% protection of the Adobe RGB area as properly, that means you could possibly comfortably use it for color-accurate work in these areas, notably given the colour accuracy outcomes beneath.
We carried out all our traditional exams on the show, and you may see the outcomes of those beneath.
Preferrred values for every measurement are:6500K (White level), 0/m² (Black level), infinity:1 (Distinction ratio), 0 (common deltaE*00), 2.20 (gamma)
The outcomes we recorded (on SDR mode) have been:7000K (White level), 0.01/m² (Black level), 27680:1 (Distinction ratio), 0.62 (common deltaE*00), 2.30 (gamma)
These are extraordinarily spectacular outcomes, with the distinction and black level being as top-notch as you’d anticipate with an OLED panel, however the different outcomes being excellent as properly. We carried out the identical take a look at with HDR mode switched on, and all of those information factors turned worse, which is one thing to remember, although it’s doable that in-depth calibration might carry these in line a bit extra.
Measured brightness ranges have been as follows:
100%: 401.3 cd/m² (SDR) / 447.1 cd/m² (HDR)
50%: 162 cd/m² (SDR) / 178.3 cd/m² (HDR)
0%: 21.9 cd/m² (SDR) / 23.4 cd/m² (HDR)
These are strong outcomes in case you choose the Omen Transcend 14 by gaming laptop computer requirements, although they don’t match as much as the very vibrant panel on a MacBook Retina show. Nonetheless, for indoor use that is a lot adequate, and if it’s not too sunny you could possibly nonetheless use the laptop computer outdoor.
Battery Life
We carried out our customary battery take a look at on the Transcend 14: 2 hours of an HD YouTube video on fullscreen, with a interval of viewing GoogleDocs and internet pages till the battery runs out.
We set the brightness to 50% for the take a look at, and in any other case set every part else inside the onboard software program and Home windows settings to maximise battery length (utilizing built-in graphics solely, disabling BlueTooth, and so on.). WiFi was left on and utilised.
The HP Omen Transcend 14 lasted 11 hours and 13 minutes on this take a look at, which is a powerful consequence for a gaming laptop computer, although it’s behind the MacBook vary, with the MacBook Air able to round 13 hours and the Professional round 17 hours.
Software program
The onboard software program the Transcend 14 comes with is the OMEN Gaming Hub, which is neither the perfect nor worst we’ve come throughout: it might positively be made extra streamlined and simpler to navigate, with the facility and efficiency settings on one display screen relatively than unfold throughout a number of, however it doesn’t assault the eyes like these in some competing manufacturers.
There are three ‘Energy Modes’: ECO, Balanced, Efficiency, and three ‘Thermal Management’ settings: Max, Auto, and Handbook.
Sadly, the large factor we discovered lacking within the software program was the inclusion of a MUX Swap to totally disable Optimus. As an alternative there’s a devoted ‘iGPU mode’ (if you wish to maximise battery length exterior of gaming) and ‘Hybrid mode’, the place the laptop computer routinely switches between the 2 primarily based on workload. We will’t say for certain how a lot of a efficiency distinction this makes: historically you’ll see round a 10-15% uplift with Optimus disabled as an alternative off Hybrid mode, however supposedly the inclusion of DirectX CASO (Cross Adapter Scan-Out) now improves issues a bit.
Efficiency & noise ranges
Typically utilization, each ECO and Balanced energy modes with Thermal Management set to Auto have close to silent followers for essentially the most half, and we’d suggest this when not gaming or operating an in any other case intensive program.
For the aim of our in-game benchmarking, we set each the facility mode (Efficiency) and fan pace (Max) to their highest, as we do with each laptop computer we take a look at. On Max the followers do change into loud, although noticeably lower than most different gaming laptops we’ve examined.
HP Omen Transcend 14 temperature outcomes
The thermal outcomes of the Transcend 14 have been fascinating. The CPU common, GPU common, and most GPU temps have been all fairly customary for a gaming laptop computer, which is pretty spectacular given how slimline the Transcend is. Nonetheless, the max CPU temperatures on the Intel Core Extremely 9-185H processor are a priority.
Usually, thermal throttling on a CPU begins to happen across the 90-95°C level, and the excessive 90s is the place injury can begin to happen to the processor and probably different elements. As you’ll be able to see, the max temps constantly pushed above 100°C on the Transcend 14, which factors to thermal throttling occurring in each recreation we examined. Though the pretty cheap common CPU temps signifies that when this excessive threshold is reached that the laptop computer does an affordable job of bringing temps again down once more, pushing the gadget as we did would doubtless trigger injury to the part over the long-term, so it’s necessary to bear this in thoughts.
HP Omen Transcend 14 gaming benchmarks
Bar chart for CS2 examined in 1080p. Efficiency is proven for highest, medium, and lowest settings with 0.1%, 1%, and common (AVG) values. Highest AVG: 159.8, Medium AVG: 187.2, Lowest AVG: 206.6, as highlighted in our HP Omen Transcend 14 assessment.
Bar chart titled “CS2 Examined in 1800p” from the HP Omen Transcend 14 assessment, displaying efficiency metrics (0.1%, 1%, AVG) at totally different settings (Highest, Medium, Lowest). Graphed information: Highest (49.7, 81, 115.4), Medium (51.2, 90.3,
Bar graph displaying Far Cry 6 efficiency on an HP Omen Transcend 14 assessment with Extremely, Medium, and Lowest settings at 1080p utilizing FSR. Values for 0.1%, 1%, and AVG FPS are supplied for every setting, with Extremely being the bottom and Lowest the best.
Bar chart displaying Far Cry 6 efficiency at 1800p with FSR on the HP Omen Transcend 14. It compares body charges at Extremely, Medium, and Lowest settings, with 0.1%, 1%, and AVG values in purple, blue, and yellow, respectively.
Bar graph displaying Doom Everlasting efficiency on totally different settings at 1080p with RT off and DLSS balanced, as highlighted in our HP Omen Transcend 14 assessment. Extremely Nightmare: 3.2ms (0.1%), 5.3ms (1%), 218.7fps (AVG). Excessive: 8.8ms, 114.3ms,
Bar chart depicting efficiency metrics for “Doom Everlasting” at 1800p with RT off and DLSS balanced on Extremely Nightmare, Excessive, and Low settings. Metrics: 0.1%, 1%, and AVG. Extremely Nightmare supplies lowest common FPS, whereas Low provides the best. Knowledge included in our HP Omen Transcend 14 assessment.
Bar chart titled “Doom Everlasting – RT on, DLSS balanced” showcasing the 0.1%, 1%, and common body charges for Extremely Nightmare, Excessive, and Low settings on an HP Omen Transcend 14. Extremely Nightmare averages 173.1 FPS, Excessive achieves 179.9 FPS, and Low reaches a powerful 196.7 FPS.
Bar chart evaluating efficiency of Doom Everlasting with RT on, DLSS balanced at 1800p throughout Extremely Nightmare, Excessive, and Low settings displaying 0.1%, 1%, and AVG FPS values within the context of an HP Omen Transcend 14 assessment.
Bar graph displaying efficiency of Murderer’s Creed: Valhalla utilizing FSR Balanced at 1080p as highlighted within the HP Omen Transcend 14 assessment. Extremely Excessive, Excessive, and Lowest settings report Common FPS of 147.1, 168.2, and 186.5 respectively.
Bar chart displaying efficiency metrics for Murderer’s Creed: Valhalla at 1800p on FSR Balanced. Metrics for Extremely Excessive, Excessive, and Lowest settings embrace 0.1%, 1%, and AVG FPS values, highest at Lowest settings. A part of the HP Omen Transcend 14 assessment collection.
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The gaming outcomes for the Omen Transcend 14 have been a combined bag and converse to a few of the {hardware} limitations of this gadget. As talked about there was appreciable thermal throttling on the CPU and this appeared to negatively have an effect on efficiency on CPU-intensive video games like CounterStrike 2 and Far Cry 6. CS2 underperformed by about 10-25% when in comparison with one other HP laptop computer we’ve examined: the Omen 16 with RTX 4060 and AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS processor, and equally Far Cry 6 confirmed a efficiency drop of about 18-26% in comparison with this different laptop computer. Within the case of Far Cry 6, while the typical FPS was definitely adequate to benefit from the recreation even on max settings, the 1% and 0.1% lows signify vital frame-drops and stuttering in recreation, which we assume have to be because of the weak spot of the Intel Core Extremely 9-185H in these eventualities.
In Murderer’s Creed Valhalla, the laptop computer really carried out very properly, with FPS scores on par with the Acer Predator Helios 16 we beforehand examined (which has a high-powered RTX 4060 and Intel Core i9-13700HX processor).
Doom Everlasting, a GPU-intensive recreation, was a little bit of a combined image: the typical FPS scores have been strong, coming in round 10% beneath the aforementioned Helios 16, which remains to be a very good consequence, and half of the time the sport appeared to run properly with no stuttering. Swiftly nonetheless the 0.1% lows all of the sudden dropped actually low when testing on some settings, resulting in noticeable stuttering. This might probably be because of some battle with our testing software program or it may very well be due to the ‘Hybrid Mode’ and common Wattage settings within the onboard software program reallocating energy from the GPU when it shouldn’t. In another laptops geared up with the Intel Core Extremely chips, reviewers like Jarrod’sTech have observed unusual efficiency drops as properly, although this has not been universally reported so the jury remains to be out.
Do you have to purchase the HP Omen Transcend 14?
So is the HP Omen Transcend 14 a profitable try and bridge the artistic/productiveness and gaming laptop computer areas? For essentially the most half, sure. The 120Hz OLED show is terrific: having nice colour replication and accuracy, distinctive distinction and response instances as you’d anticipate, and a strong peak brightness. The battery life, a giant weak level on most gaming laptops, is fairly spectacular, even when it gained’t compete with a MacBook’s. The construct high quality isn’t up there with a Mac’s and neither are the audio system, however the good thing about having the ability to recreation on this slimline gadget is undoubtedly a large plus level.
That being stated, the gaming efficiency lags behind different devoted gaming laptops of the identical value level, not simply due to the low TGP RTX 4070 graphics card (and presumably the dearth of a correct MUX Swap) but in addition the efficiency ceiling imposed by the processor, which experiences substantial thermal throttling in gaming eventualities in efficiency mode. To an extent although it’s important to anticipate this, given it’s a thinner, extra transportable gadget.
The largest purpose why you won’t wish to choose up the Omen Transcend 14 is as a result of there’s a competing laptop computer that does a number of issues barely higher: the 2024 ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14. While the display screen, battery life, dimensions and (total) weight are just about the identical on the G14, it performs higher in video games on common, definitely these which are extra CPU-intensive, has higher audio system, and comes with a MicroSD card reader. At its unique MSRP of $2,329 the Transcend 14 is $70 cheaper than the G14 with the identical specs, that means we’d go for the ASUS gadget with this pricing. Nonetheless, the HP retailer is at the moment operating a deal the place it can save you 19% ($450) on the Omen Transcend 14, with a decreased value of $1,879.99, which could be very good certainly, or you may get it for $1,999.99 on Finest Purchase, both of which might tempt us.
