Unleashing Power: A Deep Dive into the OMEN Transcend 14 Gaming Laptop

The OMEN Transcend Gaming 14 Laptop represents a 14-inch gaming powerhouse that integrates remarkable hardware into a compact design. Featuring an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processor, 32 GB LPDDR5x RAM, and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU with 8 GB GDDR6, the OMEN Transcend strives to fulfill its legacy, standing out amongst other gaming laptops in the 14-inch category. Nonetheless, priced at $2,249.99 USD, it is crucial to evaluate whether the performance warrants such an expense.

The Transcend presents a distinctive appearance while remaining true to the conventional gaming laptop aesthetics. The upper section of the clamshell design is slightly recessed from the rear bevel, creating a minor protrusion along the back of the laptop. This added space is reserved for Transcend’s cooling system, with a central I/O slot accommodating the HDMI and charging ports—a design aspect I appreciate. Notably, the traditional barrel-plug charger, which has been making a comeback in various contemporary gaming laptops, is absent; instead, it utilizes a 140 W USB Type-C power adapter.

OMEN has chosen a matte black finish that, after one and a half months of trial, remains robust, exhibiting only minor wear. Even this can be effortlessly cleaned with a damp cloth, returning the Transcend to its immaculate appearance. Other than the glossy emblem on the lid, the only additional branding is a small logo on the right palm rest. The outcome is a sleek, minimalistic design that emanates both elegance and premium quality.

Regarding premium materials, the OMEN Transcend features an aluminum chassis that matches the quality of a MacBook. Several design elements draw inspiration from the Apple aesthetic. For instance, the trackpad not only resembles its counterpart but also provides a similar user experience. This is to the Transcend’s advantage as the trackpad performs exceedingly well, feels robust, and offers a satisfying tactile feedback.

One of my favorite design decisions of the Transcend was the incorporation of HyperX keycaps. These pudding-style keycaps resemble HyperX’s full-size pudding keycaps for mechanical keyboards, simply modified for laptop use. The translucent edges and lettering impart a distinctive appearance and tactile sensation. The typing experience is exceptional as well, with each keycap featuring a slightly rubberized top pad that provides a comfortable touchpoint for my fingers.

The Transcend features support for four-zone RGB control, managed through OMEN’s Lighting Studio software. Thanks to the pudding keycaps, the keyboard glimmers and appears sharp. Although it would have been ideal to have per-key RGB assignments, even the four-zone setup is a feature not often seen in laptop keyboards. Despite this minor criticism, the keyboard on the OMEN Transcend ranks among the finest I’ve encountered.

“The introduction of HyperX pudding-style keycaps lends the keyboard a unique, premium sensation while ensuring an outstanding typing experience.”

With a 2.8K (2,800 × 1,800, 16:10 aspect ratio), 14” OLED display, the Transcend offers a stunning visual experience. Rated for a 120 Hz refresh rate, the screen supports HDR with a peak brightness of up to 500 nits. This results in a vibrant, rich visual experience. The richness of colors stands out significantly, attributed to the 1.07 billion-color support enabled by HDR. It simply looks phenomenal.

I/O ports are an area where I consistently desire more, regardless of the laptop in question, and the Transcend is no exception. This represents a broader critique of the design philosophy of modern laptops. To its credit, what is available with the Transcend is adequate. A solitary HDMI 2.1 and Thunderbolt 4 USB Type-C ports are positioned on the rear of the chassis. The latter can facilitate 40 Gbps data transfer, supporting power delivery or DisplayPort 2.1. Additionally, a second USB Type-C with 10 Gbps data transfer (supporting power delivery and DisplayPort 1.2a) along with a headphone jack are situated on the left side, while two USB Type-A ports are located on the right side.

Regarding wireless connectivity, the Transcend supports both Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. With the most cutting-edge wireless technologies available (as of this writing), the Transcend is equipped and prepared for any data transfers. My Wi-Fi tests yielded impressive metrics, averaging 900 Mbps down on my Gigabyte network.

Turning to performance, the Transcend successfully delivers substantial power from its smaller form factor, due to the Intel® Core™ Ultra 9 185H processor. This 16-core, 22-thread

The processor excels at managing both individual tasks and multitasking. In the realm of productivity and content creation, the Transcend stands out remarkably.

Applications such as DaVinci Resolve operate effortlessly on the Transcend, executing edits effectively. Render times are fair, largely due to DaVinci’s hardware management capabilities, which allow the software to utilize the GPU for additional rendering strength. Although the 14-inch display might appear somewhat limited for editing alongside my 27-inch monitor, the OMEN Transcend proved to be an adequate system for video editing. Regarding everyday activities and processing, the Transcend efficiently handles anything presented to it.

Gaming performance is also respectable on the Transcend. While the processor contributes, the presence of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU with 8 GB GDDR6, complemented by 32 GB of LPDDR5x RAM, enhances the Transcend’s capabilities as a gaming laptop. Game trials were successful, with the Transcend managing the tested titles efficiently. DOOM Eternal maintained an impressive 95 FPS on Ultra settings without difficulty. Similarly, Path of Exile 2 managed around 50 FPS at high settings, even when my powerful, all-spell-effects, all-the-time Sorceress was in action. This is noteworthy, given the multitude of spell effects my Sorceress can generate on-screen simultaneously.

“The OMEN Transcend’s elegant aluminum casing and minimalist aesthetic impart a sense of premium quality, akin to a MacBook in terms of construction.”

Although ray tracing is supported by the RTX 4060, there is a discernible drop in game performance. For instance, in DOOM Eternal, the average frame rate of 95 went down to about 50 FPS (occasionally dipping into the high 30 FPS zone) when ray tracing was enabled. Hence, even though ray tracing is functional, I discovered the overall gaming experience was significantly more gratifying with it disabled. This is somewhat disheartening, giving the Transcend a somewhat throttled feeling during gaming sessions.

Another remarkable hardware characteristic that caught me off guard was the audio experience. While it boasts the latest DTS:X Ultra, the overall sound quality is what truly stands out. For perspective, we are discussing laptop speakers, which have historically not been exceptional, so all subsequent comments are viewed through that lens. The speakers deliver an unexpectedly rich and deep audio profile. The bass, midrange, and treble are well-balanced and pleasing to the ear. Vocals are delivered clearly along with a respectable low end. It’s worth noting that the speakers aren’t excessively loud, but the audio quality remains commendable.

The cooling system on the Transcend is notably impressive, particularly for its chassis dimensions. It maintains acceptable temperatures effectively, even under heavy scrutiny. Heat displacement is commendably solid, with the device only noticeably warming near the top of the keyboard adjacent to the exhaust vents.

OMEN employs its Tempest Cooling Go cooling system to help attain these outcomes. Essentially, the underside of the device accommodates two separate cooling bays that direct cool air towards the components requiring it. This allows air to circulate more rapidly through the system while operating the fans at lower speeds, resulting in a quieter overall experience for users. In tests, although the fans were audible, they were significantly quieter than the majority of laptops I reviewed this year.

Battery performance, conversely, is somewhat underwhelming, a common trend with gaming laptops from this generation. Although the official website claims a battery longevity of eight hours, my experience did not reflect this. During battery assessments while running games in performance mode, the battery was unable to sustain more than two hours on a single charge. Modifying the system profile did yield some slight enhancements but at the cost of impacting gameplay.

In terms of productivity tasks like emailing, writing, and data input, I observed better outcomes, reaching the five- to six-hour range, but I never succeeded in extracting eight hours from the battery during a typical workday. Although I’m confident specific test conditions could yield these stats, in daily operations, the eight-hour standard was simply unattainable.

To manage the numerous features of the Transcend, OMEN provides its Gaming Hub software, which oversees everything from camera and voice preferences to monitoring essential system parameters for altering hardware settings and profile adjustments. While it shares similarities with other branded settings software, OMEN Gaming Hub is user-friendly and well-organized, ensuring easy navigation for modifying system configurations and observing system health.

The OMEN Transcend 14 Gaming Laptop boasts commendable performance, yet it doesn’t quite meet my expectations. Although the CPU and GPU are impressive on paper and even in benchmarks, they somehow feel a touch underwhelming in practical use. Gaming, while serviceable, appeared to lag with ray tracing enabled. Likewise, battery longevity was quite disappointing. All of these factors, combined with a price point of $2,249.99 USD, render the Transcend feeling slightly overpriced relative to its performance output.