When one thinks of a gaming laptop, one imagines a big and heavy machine, and most of them are. However, there are a couple of gaming laptops that take the slim route. The HP Omen Transcend 14 is one of them. HP unveiled the laptop at CES 2024, and it’s now available in India. It’s a relatively slim laptop, but at the same time, it can easily run AAA titles. The laptop doesn’t have RGB strips like most gaming laptops and is all about stealth. Apart from running games, the laptop can also perform all kinds of other tasks, such as video editing, running 100 tabs in Chrome, and so on.

HP claims that the Omen Transcend 14 is their portfolio’s lightest and slimmest laptop. I was able to try out the laptop for about a week and was truly impressed with what it could do.

HP Omen Transcend 14 price in India

The HP Omen Transcend 14 is available in two colour options and has a starting price of Rs. 1,74,999 in the country. We also get the lone variant in India, that is equipped with the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H CPU and the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU.

The matte finish on the laptop does attract a lot of fingerprints

You get the laptop, some paperwork, and a 140W charging brick in the box.

HP Omen Transcend 14 Review: Design and display

HP has done a great job with the design of the Omen Transcend 14. At first glance, it doesn’t look like a gaming laptop at all. It’s slim at up to 0.79 inches, compact, and weighs about 1.6 kg. There are no flashy bits or RGB strips on the outside. We received the Shadow Black option, which has a matte finish and uses an aluminium chassis. There’s no flex anywhere, and everything feels solid. However, the matte finish does attract some fingerprints.

There’s minimal branding on the laptop

You get rounded edges and plenty of ports as well. The Omen logo is on the lid, and a ‘Designed and built for winning’ slogan is on the thin ledge right behind the display hinges. Apart from that, there is no other branding on the outside.

Underneath, the laptop has two large intake vents for the dual fans. You’ll also find the bottom-firing dual speakers at the bottom. However, the output grilles are on the front edge. You have the exhaust ports at the back, where the thin ledge is. The display hinges sit a bit forward, which keeps the heat away from the display and the keyboard.

The rear edge also gets an HDMI 2.1 port and a USB Type-C 3.2 (Gen 2) port, which can be used for charging or connecting to a display.

The rear port placement is quite useful when gaming

The HP Omen Transcend 14 has more ports on the sides. You get dual USB Type-A 10Gbps ports on the right edge, whereas the left edge houses a Thunderbolt 4 with a USB Type-C port and a combo audio jack. That’s all the ports you get on the laptop, and it’s plenty. A 1080p web camera sits at the top bezel around the display alongside the IR sensor for facial recognition. You get slim side bezels, but there’s a noticeable chin at the bottom with the Omen logo.

The laptop offers up to 120Hz refresh rate

Now, let’s talk about the display. The HP Omen Transcend 14 has an amazing display. It’s a 14-inch 2.8K resolution OLED panel that offers up to 120Hz refresh rate, 16:10 aspect ratio, HDR support, up to 500 nits brightness (HDR mode), and IMAX certified. The colours, blacks, and contrast are amazing. HP claims that the panel supports 100 percent DCI-P3 colour gamut and I believe them. However, it gets a glossy reflective coating thanks to the Gorilla Glass protection, which can be annoying if you’re using the laptop in a well-lit room or outdoors. Apart from that one nibble, the Omen Transcend 14’s display is truly impressive.

I enjoyed watching content, especially HDR videos on the display. You’ll also enjoy playing games on the laptop as the panel has a 0.2ms response time. Try sitting in a dark room to avoid the glare, though.

HP Omen Transcend 14 Review: Keyboard, Speakers, Touchpad, and Camera

As soon as you look down from the brilliant display on the HP Omen Transcend 14, you’ll see the first hint that suggests this is a gaming laptop. You get a full-size 4-zone RGB keyboard that is different from most laptop keyboards.

The keyboard design is inspired by HyperX keyboards

The keycaps use zero-lattice translucent sky printing that lets the RGB lighting surround the keys. HP says this is the world’s first gaming laptop with a lattice-less sky-printing RGB keyboard, and I, for one, haven’t seen this on any other laptop. It is comfortable to type on and has enough key travel despite not having enough gap between the keys. RGB lighting can be configured using the Omen app.

The keyboard design is inspired by HyperX keyboards, which is why you’ll find the HyperX logo below the keyboard on the left side. It is also because the audio is tuned by HyperX. Talking about the audio, the speakers on the laptop offer good sound and have some bass as well. I’d have personally liked them to be louder, but it should be plenty indoors.

The audio quality on the laptop isn’t bad, but it could’ve been better

Below the keyboard, you’ll find a fairly large Precision trackpad. It worked well and offers support for multitouch gestures as well. It was nice to have a big trackpad on a gaming laptop.

The trackpad supports multitouch gestures

Moving on to the web camera, the HP Omen Transcend 14 has a 1080p camera that works well in all kinds of lighting conditions.

The webcam works well and doesn’t make a lot of noise in well-lit conditions

The laptop also uses the built-in NPU to improve camera performance. You also get Intel AI Boost, which helps in broadcast/meeting tools such as OBS studio.

HP Omen Transcend 14 Review: Specifications and software

While the Omen Transcend 14 is not equipped with the best in the industry, it still packs powerful innards. The laptop has the latest Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor with up to 4.8 GHz clock speeds and up to 15W TDP. You also get a built-in Neural Processing Unit (NPU) that helps bring some camera and other minor enhancements to the laptop. The chipset is paired with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU that gets a max 65W TGP. You get 8GB of GDDR6 video RAM, 16GB of LPDDR5x RAM (soldered), and 1TB PCIe Gen4 NVMe M.2 storage.

HP has packed a 71 Wh 6-cell battery inside, which supports fast charging via the 140W USB Type-C power adapter. HP claims that the charger can offer up to 50 per cent charge in 30 minutes, and during my review, the numbers were around the same. For wireless connectivity, HP has provided Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 on this unit. In terms of software, there’s Windows 11 Home with some HP software baked in, such as the Omen Gaming Hub that lets you adjust keyboard lighting zones, change power modes, and so on.

HP Omen Transcend 14 Review: Performance and gaming

While it may not perform as well as a high-end gaming laptop, you will be surprised by what this little fellow can do. The HP Omen Transcend 14 is an excellent laptop for creators and gamers who want a compact, portable alternative to big, heavy gaming laptops.

I was able to easily get 60fps+ in most games

While the laptop doesn’t have the best of the new Intel Core Ultra SoCs, it still packs a punch. The Intel Core Ultra 7 155H is decent enough for all kinds of tasks and even some heavy gaming. I obviously ran some benchmarks on the laptop just to find out how good it is, and here are the results. On PC Mark 10, the laptop scored an overall score of 6262. Individually, it scored 8949 on the Essentials test, 8145 on the Productivity test, and 9145 on the Content Creation test. The folks over at PC Mark 10 recommend a score of 4,500 or higher for a PC that you can use for content creation, editing, productivity, and light gaming, and the HP laptop scores much higher.

We also ran Cinebench R23 on the system and got a single-core CPU score of 1684 and a multi-core score of 13997. If you’re looking for excellent gaming performance from a CPU, its single-core score should ideally be above 1,000. As you can see, the HP performed pretty well here. I wasn’t able to run the 3DMark benchmarks as I didn’t get enough time, but I’m sure it would’ve given a very favourable score. 

From the numbers and my personal experience playing Marvel’s Spider-Man on the laptop with no drop in frame rates and finishing the game, the HP Omen Transcend 14 performed well. I tried a couple more games and constantly got over 60fps. It is an excellent slim and compact machine for playing games for someone who is on the move a lot. The laptop does heat up quite a bit when gaming, but the fans kick in as soon as you launch a game and keep the heat away from the keyboard. The rear edge, where the exhausts sit, is very hot to touch, and we’d recommend that you leave the laptop to sit idle on the desk for a bit after finishing a long gaming session.

The rear exhaust vents work well to keep the heat away from the keyboard area

The 2.8K OLED display is also a treat for playing games on. Marvel’s Spider-Man looked wonderful on the laptop, with excellent colours, deep blacks, and good contrast. However, in most cases, the games won’t be able to use the full display resolution as that’s just too much for the laptop to handle. I’d recommend running games at full-HD+ resolution, where the laptop can easily offer 60+ frames per second even with the graphics settings dialled up all the way.

HP Omen Transcend 14 Review: Battery life

Now, gaming laptops are known to have terrible battery life, but things are a little bit different on the HP Omen Transcend 14. While gaming in battery power mode, I’d get anywhere from 1 to 2 hours of battery life out of the laptop. It’s best to play games with the AC adapter plugged in, though. When not gaming, the laptop provides about 5 hours of battery life with normal usage such as browsing, web streaming, and some work. I’m sure you can squeeze more out of the laptop by reducing the brightness, turning off the RGB lights on the keyboard, switching to 60Hz, and using the Balanced power mode in Windows 11.

HP Omen Transcend 14 Review: Verdict

The new HP Omen Transcend 14 is an excellent gaming laptop for its size. It has enough power to run most games and is portable enough to carry anywhere in a backpack. And that’s not all, as the laptop can also be used for creative work such as video editing and content creation. You also get a great IMAX-certified 2.8K resolution OLED display and a decent battery life. The keyboard and the touchpad are also pretty good on the laptop.

If you’re looking to purchase a compact and light gaming laptop that can also be a creative work machine, the HP Omen Transcend 14 is a great buy at the price. It really transcends what a slim laptop can do.

OnePlus 13 is expected to launch in international markets soon alongside the OnePlus 13R. Most recently, the RAM and storage details and the colour options of the global variants of the OnePlus 13 series have been tipped online. The OnePlus 13R is said to come in two colour options. Meanwhile, the OnePlus 13 is already available in China. It runs on Snapdragon 8 Elite chip and sports a 6.82-inch AMOLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate.

Tipster Arsène Lupin (@MysteryLupin) recently shared the possible RAM, storage, and colour options of the global variants of the OnePlus 13 and OnePlus 13R. The OnePlus 13 5G is tipped to come in 12GB RAM + 256GB and 16GB RAM + 512GB storage options. It is said to be available in arctic dawn, black eclipse, and midnight ocean shades. The black eclipse shade could be tied to the base variant.

In China, the OnePlus 13 is listed in Blue Moments, Obsidian Realm, White Dew, and Morning Light (translated from Chinese) colourways and four memory and storage configurations — 12GB + 256GB, 12GB + 512GB, 16GB + 512GB, 24GB + 1TB. The leak indicates that the top 24GB RAM + 1TB storage variant will remain Chinese exclusive.

The tipster goes on to say that the OnePlus 13R 5G will be available in a single 12GB RAM + 256GB storage option. It is likely to be released in astral trail and nebula noir colourways.

The leak doesn’t suggest the launch date of OnePlus 13 and OnePlus 13R. The pair is expected to be available globally soon with upgrades over OnePlus 12 and  OnePlus 12R.

OnePlus 13 Specifications

The OnePlus 13 has a starting price tag of CNY 4,899 (roughly Rs. 57,900) in China. It runs on Android 15-based ColorOS 15 and sports a 6.82-inch Quad-HD+ (1,440×3,168 pixels) BOE LTPO AMOLED screen. It has a Snapdragon 8 Elite chip under the hood and a Hasselblad-tuned triple rear camera setup.

OnePlus 13 gets a 50-megapixel primary camera, a 50-megapixel ultrawide camera, and a 50-megapixel periscope telephoto camera. It has a 32-megapixel selfie camera as well and houses a 6,000mAh battery with 100W wired charging support and 50W wireless charging support.

Baldur’s Gate 3 finally dropped on the PS5 last night, and with that developer Larian Studios has confirmed that cross-play will be coming to the game eventually. Speaking to Eurogamer, director of publishing Michael Douse claimed that cross-platform co-op has always been on the roadmap, but the team never planned it as a launch feature. Just like the tabletop roleplaying game it’s based on (Dungeons & Dragons), Baldur’s Gate 3’s immersive story can be enjoyed with friends in online co-op, albeit for now it is limited to those on the same platform/ system.

“It was always in the planning,” Douse said in the interview. “But we knew it wouldn’t be for launch. It’s in the roadmap, and though we have an idea of when we’d like to get it ready for, we don’t want to put a date on it until we’re sure.” Both the PC and the PS5 versions also come with support for split-screen co-op, in addition to cross-saves. The latter makes it so you can carry over your progression between either platform, though only the last five save files will be synced. Additionally, using any mods on the PC version will make its saves incompatible with PS5 when switching over. It’s unclear if this rule is limited to third-party mods only, considering Larian recently promised to bring their own modding support/ tools in the future.

But before Larian gets to any of that, I’m guessing the team will be focused on fixing any bugs and expanding Baldur’s Gate 3’s epilogue with new cinematics. The first of such changes went live last week with patch #2, which added a new optional ending for the cheerful Tiefling Karlach, whose arc previously ended in misery. In other news, the studio’s CEO Swen Vincke confirmed that BG3’s characters came across as too horny because of a programming bug, which caused some companions like the wizard Gale to instantly fling themselves at the player. Romances in the game function on an approval system, where a party member’s interest in you is dependent on the way you interact with the world. However, Vincke notes that at launch the approval thresholds were set too low, and they’ve been fixing it ever since.

Amidst all this, Larian is also working on an Xbox version of Baldur’s Gate 3, which is scheduled for later this year. The Xbox Series S/X would likely come with cross-play support as well, but it’s worth mentioning that split-screen co-op is limited to the more expensive Xbox Series X. The studio was struggling to incorporate the feature on the less-expensive Xbox Series S due to its lack of memory, which makes it difficult to render too much activity on the same screen/ system. That said, Larian and the team at Xbox will still explore ways to include split-screen co-op on the lower-end system post-launch, though no promises were made.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is out now on PC and PS5, while the Xbox Series S/X version is slated for launch sometime this year.

Xiaomi 15 and Xiaomi 15 Pro are confirmed to debut later this month, but there is no official word from the brand about the arrival of the Ultra model yet. Like the Xiaomi 13 Ultra and 14 Ultra, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra is likely to go official early next year, a few months after the launch of the Xiaomi 15 and Xiaomi 15 Pro. While we wait for the formal announcement, leaked renders show us what the Xiaomi 15 Ultra flagship could look like. The renders also suggest a redesigned camera housing.

Tipster Yogesh Brar, in association with Smartprix, posted the first set of leaked renders showing the Xiaomi 15 Ultra in black and silver or white colourways. The device looks familiar to the predecessor model with a circular camera module with four lenses inside, but the arrangement is different to previous models.

Xiaomi 15 Ultra leaked render
Photo Credit: Smartprix/ Yogesh Brar

A camera sensor is placed next to the Leica branding, which is seen on the top left of the module. The other three sensors are arranged horizontally underneath. The two flash LEDs are arranged horizontally at the top. Meanwhile, the Xiaomi logo is placed vertically at the bottom left of the phone.

The report states that the camera, placed at the top right, is a 200-megapixel Samsung ISOCELL HP9 1/1.4 periscope zoom lens with 4.3x optical zoom, and an f/2.6 aperture. This is a notable upgrade from the Xiaomi 14 Ultra‘s 50-megapixel camera.

Xiaomi’s 15 Ultra is said to use a 50-megapixel Sony sensor as the primary camera. This main camera will reportedly be accompanied by a 50-megapixel ultra wide camera and a 50-megapixel 2x telephoto lens. It is expected to include a 32-megapixel selfie camera on the front.

Xiaomi 15 Ultra Specifications (Expected)

As per past rumours, Xiaomi 15 Ultra will come with a 6.7-inch 2K LTPO micro quad-curved display with 120Hz refresh rate. It is expected to be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset and run on HyperOS 2.0 based on Android 15. It could carry a 6,000mAh battery with 90W wired and 80W wireless charging support.

Reliance Digital has announced that its Digital Discount Days sale will begin from April 6 and end on April 15. During this sale, a wide range of electronic items will be offered at discounted prices. Alongside lowered prices of products, customers will also be eligible to access additional exchange discounts and bank offers. Products like smartphones, smart TVs, laptops, tablets, soundbars and more can be purchased at considerably lower rates than their usual market prices. Buyers can get electronic items at considerably discounted prices from several leading brands.

The dates for the upcoming sale were announced in a press release on Friday. The company revealed that the sale will run between April 6 and April 15. Customers will be able to avail of discounts during the sale at Reliance Digital and My Jio stores, and will be eligible to get up to 10 percent instant discount on leading bank cards. They can also win cashback of up to Rs. 15,000 on purchases during the sale.

The company states that there are also several EMI options available on many products that are expected to be convenient for shoppers. The company also noted that all the offers discussed above, as well as the following ones, are subject to terms and conditions. The exact prices and discount details are expected to be revealed once the sale is live.

The Digital Discount Days Sale from Reliance Digital will offer LG OLED and Samsung Neo QLED smart televisions with a 45 percent discount, starting at Rs. 79,990. The company added that 43-inch full-HD smart TVs from other brands will be sold with a 40 percent discount, starting at Rs. 16,990.

iPhone models are also said to be available at lowered prices during the sale. The company claimed that customers can get a ‘double exchange bonus’ of up to Rs. 12,000 on all iPhone models to get the handsets at a lowered effective price. However, it did not clarify what the ‘double exchange bonus’ entails and what smartphones will be eligible for the bonus.

More products from Apple like the MacBook M1 model will be available at a 33 percent discount alongside no-cost EMI options starting at Rs. 54 per day. The 64GB Wi-Fi variant of the iPad 9th Gen will also be offered at the lowest effective price of Rs. 23,900.

The company added that during the sale, a range of gaming laptops will also be offered at discounted prices starting at Rs. 49,999. The Bose Soundbar 900, can be bought at a 30 percent discount at a price of Rs. 72,990, while Dolby Atmos soundbars will be available at a 65 percent discount, starting at Rs. 17,990. 

Home appliances like air conditioners and washing machines will be available at discounted rates during the Digital Discount Days Sale. The company stated that 1 Ton 3-star inverter ACs will be offered at the price of Rs. 20,990, while high-end 11kg or 7kg washing machines with dryers will be available at Rs. 61,990. Refrigerators starting at Rs. 49,990 will also be available for purchase during the Reliance Digital sale, according to the company.

Meta Platforms Inc. was hit with a €798 million ($841 million or roughly Rs. 7,100 crore) fine by European Union regulators by tying its Facebook Marketplace service to the social network, the US tech giant’s first ever penalty for EU antitrust violations.

In a groundbreaking decision, the European Commission ordered Meta to stop tying its classified-ads service to Facebook’s sprawling social media platform, and refrain from imposing unfair trading conditions on rival second-hand goods platforms.   

“Meta tied its online classified ads service Facebook Marketplace to its personal social network Facebook and imposed unfair trading conditions on other online classified ads service providers,” EU antitrust chief, Margrethe Vestager, said. “It did so to benefit its own service Facebook Marketplace.” 

The move adds to a spate of bad news for Meta. A US judge ruled that the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust lawsuit against the company can continue to trial on Wednesday, while Donald Trump was elected US president again. His victory helped propel the social networking app Bluesky, which competes with Meta’s Threads, to the top of Apple Inc.’s US App Store.

Trump called Facebook an “enemy of the people” just eight months ago and suggested Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg should go to jail.

The EU fine is likely to be one of the final acts for Vestager, who’s set to leave her post before the end of the year. Over the past decade, she has been one of Silicon Valley’s toughest critics levying billions of euros in antitrust penalties, including over €8 billion in fines against Google. 

The decision follows a probe into how Meta leverages Facebook’s billions of users to squeeze out rivals. EU watchdogs said Menlo Park California-based Meta also used data from rival platforms that advertised on Facebook to boost its Marketplace service.

Meta vowed to appeal the decision at the bloc’s courts, a process that could take several years. It said the penalty “ignores the realities of the thriving European market” and “shields large incumbent companies.” 

Meta shares fell as much as one percent after trading opened in New York. The company was earlier fined €110 million by the EU merger regulator for providing misleading information about its takeover of messaging service WhatsApp in 2017.    

Amazon.com Inc. dodged EU fines in a similar case in 2022, targeting how the US. ecommerce firm allegedly pillaged rivals’ sales data to unfairly favor it own products. Regulators accepted a number of proposals from Amazon, including a vow to stop using non-public data on independent sellers on its marketplace for its competing retail business.

Facebook’s Marketplace has also been targeted by other regulators. It settled a probe with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority after agreeing to a slate of concessions. 

Meta reported sales of $40.6 billion (roughly Rs.3,42,777 crore) in the quarter that ended September 30, a jump of 19 percent compared to a year earlier. In recent years, Meta has been working to balance huge outlays on technologies like artificial intelligence and virtual reality, while still trying to ensure that its core digital advertising business is still growing. 

While the EU can levy fines of 10 percent of global sales, its penalties are usually much smaller and take into account severity of the allegations and the sub-markets involved. 

That’s led to frustration among regulators and a clamor for tougher remedies, including more structural solutions. Like the US, the EU has been weighing a potential breakup of Alphabet Inc.’s Google to allay concerns over its adtech dominance. 

The new Digital Markets Act bolsters traditional antitrust law by placing strict guardrails on Silicon Valley firms.

The European Commission has kick-started probes into Google and Meta to vet their compliance with the DMA, while Apple Inc. is soon likely to face the bloc’s first fine for failing to step into line with the rules. This week Meta pitched changes to the way it targets users with ads on Facebook and Instagram, in order to offset an escalation in the investigation.

UNESCO on Thursday published its first guidance on use of Generative AI (GenAI) for education, urging governmental agencies to regulate the use of the technology, including protection of data privacy and putting an age limit for users.

Launched by Microsoft-backed OpenAI in November, GenAI chatbot ChatGPT has become the world’s fastest growing app to date, and its emergence has prompted the release of rivals, such as Google‘s Bard.

Students have also taken a liking for GenAI, which can generate anything from essays to mathematical calculations with just a few line of prompts. 

“We are struggling to align the speed of transformation of the education system to the speed of the change in technological progress and advancement in these machine learning models,” Stefania Giannini, assistant director-general for education, told Reuters.

“In many cases, governments and schools are embracing a radically unfamiliar technology that even leading technologists do not claim to understand,” she said.

Among a series of guidelines in a 64-page report, UNESCO stressed on the need for government-sanctioned AI curricula for school education, in technical and vocational education and training.

“GenAI providers should be held responsible for ensuring adherence to core values and lawful purposes, respecting intellectual property, and upholding ethical practices, while also preventing the spread of disinformation and hate speech,” UNESCO said.

It also called for prevention of GenAI where it would deprive learners of opportunities to develop cognitive abilities and social skills through observations of the real world, empirical practices such as experiments, discussions with other humans, and independent logical reasoning.

While China has formulated rules on GenAI, the European Union’s AI Act is likely to be approved later this year. Other countries are far behind in drafting their own AI laws. 

The Paris-based agency also sought to protect the rights of teachers and researchers and the value of their practices when using GenAI.

© Thomson Reuters 2023