Nvidia graphics card and mini-PC maker Zotac is now accepting pre-orders for its first gaming handheld, the Zone which will reportedly retail for $799 in selected regions and online retailers. It's equipped with the AMD Ryzen 7 8840U (Hawk Point) APU and Radeon 780M graphics based on the Zen 4 and RDNA 3 architecture. Zotac US tells Tom's Hardware that those pre-orders won't be in the North American market.
Some of the features of the Zotac Gaming Zone are the use of hall effect sensors for its trigger and analog stick over conventional ones to prevent drifting. It also has radial dials on both analog sticks and dual trackpads. It has Windows 11 Home pre-installed, which puts itself directly competing with Asus ROG Ally X and some of the best PC gaming handhelds due to some of its components, including the APU with the same architecture with eight-core, 16-threads clocked up to 5.1 GHz and its on-chip graphic with 12 compute units clocked at 2.7 GHz.
The pricing is no different from that of the Asus ROG Ally X. Both gaming handhelds have similar specs, except Ally X doesn't have the 7-inch 1080p AMOLED screen or dual touchpad. What it does have in its place is a more practical 24GB LPDDR5X-7500 RAM and the 1TB PCIe 4.0 2280 SSD, while Zotac Gaming Zone has two-thirds of its RAM and half the internal storage.
Furthermore, it has a much smaller 48.5 Wh three-cell battery, while the Ally X has an 80 Wh four-cell battery. Both gaming handhelds have the same Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 for wireless connectivity, microSD for external storage, and dual USB Type-C ports. Zotac did add a 1MP 720p camera, which may not be appealing depending on the video quality and the user's priorities.
When one glances at the configuration, one wonders why it has a hardware configuration. ROG Ally X has a larger internal storage, RAM, and battery for that price segment, which makes it more appealing than an AMOLED screen and dual trackpad. But the addition to the Zotac Gaming Zone doesn't end there on paper.
Zotac mentions shaping the Zone for a more comfortable grip, which may explain why it's slightly longer vertically. It didn't skip on a 3.5mm audio jack, has two macro switches, and has a fingerprint scanner on its power button. Integrating a built-in kickstand is a great idea, and having a good grip is just as important for a handheld.
We had hands-on experience with the Zotac Zone earlier during Computex 2024 when Asus launched Ally X, MSI showed off its Claw 8 AI+ with Intel Lunar Lake, and Antec partnered with Ayaneo for its first gaming handheld, the Core HS.
Suffice it to say the gaming handheld market is getting over-saturated while having little difference from each other- apart from design choices and trade-offs. While Asus ROG Ally X will have SteamOS 3 BETA, and likely other gaming handhelds will in time. But it is Windows 11 that allows you to install other game launchers and run Game Pass (Steam Deck can, but through its browser) natively, a plethora of mods, and practically anything else you'd otherwise do with a PC. It is where Windows-based gaming handhelds have an advantage over Steam Deck.
It is also important to note that Windows handhelds should consider having a debloated Windows 11 to give the best possible experience and not follow in the footsteps of PC and notebook OEMs. Now that many PC and peripheral makers are getting onto this bandwagon, Zotac needs the best hardware it can provide for its price.
Hence, one wouldn't ponder for long which of the two is preferable- a gaming handheld with a larger battery, storage, and RAM or another with an AMOLED screen but with half the important bits?
