Samsung Galaxy Book Odyssey promises gamers NVIDIA's new RTX30 GPUs

By Chris Davies/April 29, 2021 8:28 am EST

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Samsung's svelte Galaxy Book laptops weren't the only new PCs the company had to show this week, with the Galaxy Book Odyssey promising gaming potential complete with NVIDIA's latest GeForce RTX graphics. Thicker and heavier than its ultraportable siblings, the Odyssey takes full advantage of that by packing in more potent hardware for gamers.

So, as well as 11th Gen Intel Core i5 and i7 processors, there are new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 TI and 3050 GPUs with 4GB of GDDR6 dedicated memory. That's a significant upgrade from the integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics on the Galaxy Book Pro range.

The Galaxy Book Odyssey gets a 15.6-inch TFT LCD running at 1920 x 1080 Full HD resolution, and topped with a 720p HD camera. There's up to 32GB of DDR4 memory, and up to 1TB of NVMe SSD storage. Both memory and storage are expandable, Samsung says, too.

For connectivity, there are more ports than on the typical notebook as well. Two USB Type-C, three USB 3.2 Type-A, an HDMI output, a microSD card reader, and a gigabit ethernet jack are alongside a 3.5mm headphone/microphone combo port. On the wireless side, there's WiFi 6 (Gig+) and Bluetooth 5.1.

The 4.1 pound notebook has Dolby Atmos audio and a fingerprint sensor built into the power key. Samsung isn't saying how long the 83 Wh battery will last, though that'll presumably depend heavily on just what sort of gaming you're doing. A 135W USB Type-C charger in the box should at least take care of recharging duties speedily.

On the software side, there's the choice of Windows 10 Home or Pro, and all of the same Galaxy ecosystem features we've seen on the Galaxy Book Pro and Galaxy Book Pro 360. That includes easer Bluetooth device sharing, using a Galaxy Tab tablet as a second screen, and Link to Windows / Microsoft Your Phone for accessing Android apps on your Galaxy smartphone from your PC desktop.

At 356.6 x 229.1 x 17.7 mm, the Galaxy Book Odyssey certainly isn't as svelte as the other members of the Galaxy Book range. However depending on how well those new NVIDIA GPUs hold up in the real-world, gamers – and graphics pros – may well figure that the slight compromise on portability is worth it. The Galaxy Book Odyssey is expected to ship in August, kicking off from $1,399, in Mystic Black.