HP Omen Transcend 14 (2025) Review: More Power, Same Premium Portability

Last year’s model was an impressive thin-and-light gaming laptop—but it was held back by a severely power-limited GPU. The 2025 refresh promises a new “Unleashed” performance mode and 10 extra watts to the GPU. On paper, that should help close the gap with its 14-inch rivals like the Zephyrus G14 and Razer Blade 14, but does it live up to the hype?

Design & Build Quality

The Transcend 14 continues to stand out as one of the best-looking 14-inch gaming laptops. Its minimalist design could sit comfortably next to a MacBook Pro or Blade 14. Build quality is excellent, with just a touch more deck flex than the competition.

The OLED display is a highlight—sharp resolution, vibrant colors, and a 120Hz refresh rate that can dynamically drop to 48Hz to save battery. The keyboard is another standout. Key travel feels crisp, and the four-zone RGB lighting adds personality without being distracting.

Port selection is practical, with ports placed sensibly around the chassis. A unique advantage is USB-C charging for the entire system—even with high-performance hardware. The trade-off: to keep power within USB-C limits, GPU wattage remains lower than competitors.

CPU Performance

HP offers multiple power profiles: Eco, Balanced, Performance, and Unleashed. CPU performance in Performance and Unleashed modes is nearly identical—Cinebench results hover around 1,100 points with peak draw at 80W. Unleashed adds a touch more fan noise without meaningful gains, making Performance the better default for most users.

Eco mode sees major improvement over last year, making it viable for light use without diminishing performance.

Intel’s Arrow Lake Ultra 9 in our test unit competes well with AMD’s Ryzen 9 HX 370 in the G14 and handily outpaces Intel’s previous Ultra 9. Single-core performance is particularly strong, though AMD still holds a lead in multi-core at higher wattages.

GPU Performance

Despite the bump to 75W TGP, the RTX 5070 Laptop GPU still trails full-power versions found in thicker machines. In 3DMark Time Spy, the Transcend 14 is roughly 15% faster than last year’s RTX 4070 model, but still behind higher-wattage 4070 systems like the Predator Helios Neo 14.

Real-world gaming mirrors the benchmarks. Cyberpunk 2077 at Ultra is playable at native resolution, with strong results when DLSS Frame Generation is enabled. However, VRAM limitations (8GB) show up in titles like Monster Hunter Wilds, where 1% lows drop significantly compared to GPUs with 12GB of VRAM.

Performance mode is again the sweet spot here—Unleashed offers minimal uplift at the cost of louder fans.

Thermals & Noise

The Transcend 14 runs cooler and quieter than most 14-inch gaming laptops in light use. Surface temperatures stay comfortable, and fan noise is moderate.

Under load, however, the laptop does heat up a bit more than we'd like on the keyboard deck. When Josh was editing one of our videos, he found it uncomfortably warm.

Creator Performance

For creators, the Transcend 14 performs well. In PugetBench Premiere Pro, it outpaces Apple’s MacBook Pro 14 (M4 Pro) and remains competitive in DaVinci Resolve, where the MacBook pulls ahead. Video editing on our test unit was smooth, though prolonged workloads did make the left side of the keyboard subtly vibrate in addition to its warmth.

Battery Life

This year’s battery life is a disappointment. Our unit lasted just ~3 hours in light-use scenarios like offline video playback and productivity—significantly below expectations for this class. We suspect a firmware or BIOS issue, as the chassis felt warmer than it should during battery tests, possibly indicating dGPU activity when it shouldn’t be engaged.

Other Notes

• Charging: Both USB-C ports now deliver full performance, fixing last year’s quirk.
• Wi-Fi: Our Best Buy unit oddly shipped with Wi-Fi 6E instead of Wi-Fi 7. Direct HP models may differ.
• Trackpad: Still a mechanical unit that feels underwhelming compared to the premium chassis.

Verdict

The 2025 HP Omen Transcend 14 refines an already premium portable gaming laptop. It’s not the best pick for pure gaming—8GB VRAM and a lower TGP GPU limit its ceiling. But for those who prioritize portability, a premium build, quiet operation, and strong CPU performance (with some gaming and content creation on the side), it’s one of the most comfortable 14-inch options available.

If gaming is your primary goal, look at higher-wattage RTX 5070 Ti systems like the Predator Helios Neo 16S. But for mixed-use buyers—especially programmers, creators, and frequent travelers—the Transcend 14 remains a compelling, if imperfect, choice.