Samsung’s Notebook Odyssey Delivers RTX 2080, Interesting Hinge Design

Samsung’s not exactly well-known in the gaming laptop field, although the company has played in this space before, including last year’s Odyssey, which came in white and sported a oddly slanted ring around its touchpad. This year at CES, the company is back with a completely redesigned Odyssey that looks more traditional--at least until you lift its lid.

On the inside, the 2019 Odyssey delivers where it counts, packing an Nvidia RTX 2080 and an unspecified Intel Core i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM and a 15.6-inch 144Hz Nvidia G-Sync display. There’s also a 256GB NVMe SSD alongside a 1TB hard drive. That SSD capacity is pretty cramped for a system this expensive, but at least there’s a hard drive for programs and games that you don’t play all that often.

And while the 0.78-inch (19.9mm) thickness and 5.2-pound (2.36kg) weight makes this a bulky machine, its thickness and weight aren’t all that bad considering the power of the RTX 2080. Samsung also says the shell is made out of “Aluminum True Metal,” which is good because we’re not fans of the fake stuff.

It’s what’s on the outside that makes the 2019 Odyssey stand out, though. The company is clearly committed to designs that are a bit different than most gaming laptops. The touchpad sporting a pattern that looks like an oil slick and its central hinge leaves lots of empty space between the display and the the base, reminding me of laptops from the 1990s.

Samsung isn’t ready to talk price yet for the 2019 Odyssey, but you can expect it to be expensive with its 2080 graphics. Availability isn’t nailed down yet either, although Samsung says it will embark on its latest Odyssey in the U.S. "in early 2019.”