GALAXY BOOK ODYSSEY

The introduction of the Samsung Galaxy Book series has totally altered our perceptions of computers. Samsung released four laptops from its next-generation Galaxy Book series this month. The Samsung Galaxy Book Odyssey is one of them, and it’s designed specifically for gaming.

Although we saw that the Galaxy Book Pro versions were a tough competitor for the MacBook Air, let’s see if the Galaxy Book Odyssey will enter the ranks of the Best Gaming Laptops.

SPECIFICATIONS

DESIGN AND DISPLAY

The Samsung Galaxy Book Odyssey has a fairly unremarkable chassis, which belies the strong components inside. The Odyssey is available in any color you like, as long as it’s Mystic Black; if you’re looking for a low-key ultra-portable that can accommodate all of the latest games, the Odyssey might be a good fit.

What’s really appealing about the Odyssey’s design is how it’s designed to allow you to extend your memory and storage capacity in the future. For gamers, the ability to swap out RAM or upgrade the SSD on their own is essential, and the laptop reportedly comes with spare SO-DIMM and PCIe slots for this reason.

The body of this gaming laptop is made entirely of metal, with a Mystic Black finish on top. It weighs about 1.85kg and measures 356.6 x 229.1 x 17.7mm. The monitor is a 15.6-inch LCD screen with a 1920 x 1080 pixel FHD resolution.

The laptop is powered by Intel Tiger Lake-H processors from the 11th generation. Users will choose from Core i5 and Core i7 processors. Samsung, on the other hand, has not discussed the CPUs’ specific SKUs.

PERFORMANCE

Samsung’s Galaxy Book Odyssey is one of very few laptops to feature Nvidia’s latest RTX 3050/3050 Ti GPUs, which could be a game-changer for anyone who values good gaming efficiency on a laptop.

Since the Nvidia RTX 3050/3050 Ti GPUs are so fresh, we don’t have a lot of test results to go on to see how they compare to the competition. However, since the Odyssey is equipped with these new GPUs, a 1080p screen, and plenty of RAM, any modern game you play on it should look fantastic and run smoothly, assuming you use the highest quality settings.

PORTS

The Samsung Galaxy Book Odyssey will come with a variety of ports, none of which are the most up-to-date. With two USB-C ports and three USB 3.2 ports, the Odyssey is compatible with nearly every PC gaming peripheral released in the last few years, so you should have no trouble connecting your favorite keyboards, mice, and headsets.

The included HDMI port and RJ45 jack are both welcome additions; the former allows you to connect the laptop to an external monitor, while the latter allows you to connect to an Ethernet port for fast wired Internet access However, it might be a little surprising to see that this high-end laptop lacks any USB 4 | Thunderbolt 4 ports, which may restrict your peripheral choices in the future.

BATTERY

An 83Wh battery powers the device and supports 135W USB Type-C charging. Two USB-C ports, three USB 3.2 Type-A ports, one HDMI port, one ethernet port, one combined audio jack, a security slot, and a microSD card slot are available in the I/O section. Dolby Atmos music, a fingerprint scanner on the power button, an HD webcam, and a Pro Keyboard are among the other features.

OUTLOOK

Samsung has made the Samsung Galaxy Book Odyssey a very appealing choice for anyone looking for a high-performance ultraportable by packing an 11th Gen Intel CPU and one of the first Nvidia RTX 3050/3050 Ti cards on the market into a slim chassis that’s lighter than most gaming laptops.

When you consider that you can update or change out the RAM and SSD yourself, the Galaxy Book Odyssey begins to look like one of the best gaming laptops you can purchase in 2021 — and possibly one of the best laptops period.

What remains to be seen is how fine the screen looks when playing all of the new games, as well as how long the battery lasts. Keep tuned for a full report as we hope to have one in for testing and analysis soon.