Gaming laptops used to be big and heavy machines with large displays and high-performance internals. But over the past few years we’ve seen a growing number of companies including Acer, Asus, and Razer show that it’s possible to make a decent gaming laptop that weighs around 4 pounds or less.
Now HP is getting in on the action with the HP Omen Transcend 14, which the company says is the “world’s lightest 14 inch gaming laptop,” at just 3.6 pounds (or 1.367 kilograms). But the laptop still packs a lot of power with support for up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 graphics. It goes up for pre-order today for $1600 and up from Best Buy or HP.com.
HP says the laptop has a high-strength aluminum chassis that measures less than 19mm (0.75 inches) thick, and a dual-fan cooling system that HP says supports up to 80 watts of thermal capabilities.
In addition to a gaming-class processor and discrete GPU, the laptop features a 2880 x 1800 pixel OLED display with support for variable refresh rates ranging from 48 to 120 Hz and 0.2 ms response times and up to 500 nits brightness, making this one of HP’s first Omen gaming laptop with an OLED display.
The keyboard features RGB backlit keys, with two keyboard options available. At launch customers will only be able to purchase the laptop with a 4-zone keyboard, but starting this spring HP will also offer models with per-key RGB lighting.
Other features include support for up to 32GB of LPDDR5x-7467 onboard memory and up to a 2 TB PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD. Since the memory is soldered to the mainboard, it’s not user replaceable, but the storage should be.
The laptop has a 71 Wh battery and comes with a 140 watt USB-C charger that HP says should give you a 50% charge in 30 minutes. It has a 1080p IR camera with support for Windows Hello face recognition and stereo speakers with DTS:X Ultra sound.
HP says the laptop also supports HyperX 2.4 Hz ultra low-latency wireless connections, allowing you to pair the Omen Transcend 14 with a HyperX Cloud III gaming headset without using a dongle.
- 1 x Thunderbolt 4 (40 Gbps)
- 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C (10 Gbps)
- 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A (10 Gbps, one with HP sleep and charge)
- 1 x HDMI 2.1
- 1 x 3.5mm audio
HP offers two wireless card options: an Intel BE200 card with support for WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 or an Intel AX211 WiFi 6E/BT 5.3 card.
While the HP Omen Transcend 14 supports up to a Core Ultra 9 185H processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 graphics, it will also be available in lower-priced configurations with an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor and RTX 4050 or 4060 GPU options.
Those looking for a bigger screen and/or even more horsepower can also consider the new HP Omen Transcend 16, which is a 4.6 pound laptop with a 97 Wh battery and support for Intel Core i7-14700HX and Core i9-14900HX Raptor Lake Refresh processor options, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050/4060/4070 graphics and several display options, including:
- 1920 x 1200 pixel IPS LCD with 165 Hz refresh rate
- 2560 x 1600 pixel, 240 Hz IPS LCD with 240 Hz refresh rate
- 2560 x 1600 pixel OLED with 48-240 Hz variable refresh rate
The 16 inch model also has a few bonus features including two Thunderbolt 4 ports rather than one, and DDR5-5600 memory (which is slower than the RAM in the 14 inch model, but which is user upgradeable because the laptop has two SODIMM slots for memory).
HP says the Omen Transcend 16 goes up for pre-order January 10 with prices starting at $1900 (or $2300 for models bundled with a HyperX Cloud Headset).
