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At CES a few months ago, KitGuru got hands on, very briefly, with the HP Omen Transcend 14 laptop, sporting an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor, or as we prefer to call it, Meteor Lake. Our time with the laptop at CES was very brief, but now we have an example and we're ready for a full review. And we're ready to address a burning question. Is it possible a laptop this thin and light could conceivably be a gaming laptop? Spoiler alert, the answer's oh yes it can.
Features
- Power to game, power to create
More power, enhanced speed, superior cooling, massive storage. More of everything you need to play and create at full throttle is built into the OMEN Transcend 14. - Go anywhere, do anything
Unlock the performance you need for powerful play and unlimited creativity with up to an AI-enhanced Intel Core Ultra 9 Processor and lightning speeds of Wi-Fi 7. - Shades of performance
Available in your choice of sleek Shadow Black or pristine Ceramic White, the Transcend 14 turns heads before you turn it on. - Stay at your coolest anywhere
Whether it’s the heat of a gaming battle or an intense video editing session, Tempest Cooling Go makes the Transcend 14 the coolest laptop on earth. Intel hyperbaric cooling technology creates a pressurized zone for high-efficiency heat exchange and unparalleled cooling performance. - Versatile, portable, powerful
It’s not just one of the world's lightest 14-inch gaming laptops, it’s also the most versatile. Charge faster, play longer, and create anywhere.
Specification
- CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 155H (6P + 8E + 2LP cores/22 Threads) 45W TDP
- Screen: 14.0-inch 2.8K (2,880 x 1,800) 120Hz OLED, 400 nits, variable refresh
- Graphics: Nvidia RTX 4060 Laptop 8GB and Intel Arc Graphics
- Memory: 32GB LPDDR5X-7467 dual channel
- Storage: 1TB WD SN810 Gen 4.0
- Networking: Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE200, BT 5.4, no Ethernet
- I/O ports:
- 1x Thunderbolt 4 Type-C 40Gbps and combo audio jack on left hand side
- 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A 10Gbps on right hand side
- 1x USB Type-C 10Gbps up to 140W charging and HDMI 2.1 on rear
- Battery: 6-cell, 5,830mAh, 71Wh Li-Ion
- Dimensions: 313mm x 233.5mm x 17.99mm
- Weight: 1.64kg plus 500g for 140W USB-C power supply
- Windows: 11 Home
Testing and Performance of the Core Ultra 7 155H CPU
KitGuru recently reviewed an Asus Zenbook 14 OLED UX3405M (read it HERE) with the same Intel Core Ultra 7 155H CPU so that laptop has a fair amount in common with this HP Omen Transcend 14. The big difference is that the Asus is a thin and light model that uses integrated Intel graphics while this HP Omen has add-in Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop graphics and a more substantial Omen Tempest Cooling GO to keep the CPU and GPU under control. This have an obvious impact on the graphics performance but also means that HP Omen is able to feed the CPU with 45W of power where Asus was limited to 30W.
Cinebench R23 Multi Core
The HP Omen is off to a good start in Cinebench R23 Multi Core where we see the extra power allows the Intel CPU to deliver decent levels of performance.
Cinebench R23 Single Core
In Cinebench R23 Single Core we see performance that is identical to the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED as the power draw is so low that the improved cooling system delivers no benefits.
Clock Speed and Power
Our chart of Clock Speed and Power shows a couple of points. The first is that we have a low power CPU that is being fed medium levels of power and while we prefer to see a CPU running on 45W, rather than 65W or 100W+ it demonstrates that HP Omen is keen to extract the maximum performance from Intel's silicon. The second point is that the clock speeds of the various P-cores covers a wide range at any given time and we observed 2.7GHz-3.1GHz when the laptop was working hard.
7-Zip v22
In the 7-Zip v22 benchmark test we see the HP Omen performs well and the Core Ultra 7 is more akin to a Core i9 than a Core i7.
Testing and Performance: System
AIDA64 Memory Bandwidth
The AIDA64 Memory Bandwidth test threw up an odd result as the 32GB of LPDDR5X-7467 in dual channel performed better than we expected and beat the ‘faster' LPDDR5X-8533 used by Asus.
3D Mark CPU Profile
Moving on to 3D Mark CPU Profile we can see the benefit of the extra power used by the HP Omen operating at 45W compared to the Asus at 30W. Even so, the performance is higher than we might expect.
3D Mark Time Spy – Overall Score
In 3D Mark Time Spy we see a decent Overall Score and when we compare to the Asus at the bottom of the chart it is clear the Nvidia RTX 4060 graphics are playing a major role.
PC Mark 10 – Battery Test
We were slightly disappointed by the result of the PC Mark 10 Battery Test which are middling at best. The battery is rated at 5,830mAh where Asus used a 9,420mAh unit in the Zenbook 14, and we have to assume the decision was driven by the limited space available inside the HP Omen chassis.
Testing and Performance: Gaming
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy at 1440p
We start our games testing in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy at 1440p and the power of the RTX 4060 Laptop graphics deliver a healthy frame rate however the 1% low figure is slightly disappointing.
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy at 1080p
In Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy at 1080p we see a small increase in average frame rate how the low point is still lower than we like to see so the best move is to game at 1440p and endure the occasional glitch.
Far Cry 6 at 1440p
Far Cry 6 at 1440p is clearly pushing the HP Omen hard with image quality set to Ultra. The average frame rate is slightly on the low side and the 1% low is disappointing,
Far Cry 6 at 1080p
In Far Cry 6 at 1080p we see HP Omen running smoothly but once again the 1% low is unimpressive.
In our video we show the wide of array of features that come with the HP Omen Transcend 14, including the lovely OLED screen, the RGB keyboard, large touchpad and the decent array of ports and connectors that are arranged on the two sides and the rear of the laptop. We also give a whistlestop tour of the HP Omen software suite which delivers some interesting features and brings a certain amount of value to the package.
The main point of interest with the HP Omen Transcend 14 is that it packs a decent combination of CPU and GPU inside a laptop that is both thin and light. The HP Omen is 10mm thicker than the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED which runs on pure Intel silicon without a whiff of Nvidia hardware and it weighs a few hundred grammes more.
The big difference is that the Transcend 14 offers decent all-round performance and has the ability to plan games, and that simply is not possible with the integrated Intel Arc graphics.
You can buy the HP Omen Transcend 14 for £1,799 with Core Ultra 7 155, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD and RTX 4060 Laptop Graphics HERE.
Pros:
- The 14-inch form factor is compact and light
- Lovely OLED display
- Wickedly fast Wi-Fi 7 with Bluetooth 5.4
- Decent gaming performance
Cons:
- The memory is soldered and cannot be upgraded
- Single M.2 SSD slot restricts upgrades
- Battery life is nothing special
KitGuru says: Adding Nvidia RTX 4060 graphics to Intel Core Ultra 7 155H makes the HP Omen Transcend 14 highly desirable.
