Zotac does a lot of things right with the Zone handheld
Zotac's Zone handheld PC comes with a fast AMOLED display, Hall-effect joysticks and a kickstand. Inside sits a Ryzen processor.
Pre-production model of the Zotac Zone. The handheld PC is to receive a few RGB LEDs and a darker gray.
(Image: c't / chh)
Zotac joins Valve, Asus and MSI in the market for handheld gaming PCs. The debut model is called Zone and makes improvements in areas that require improvement in competitor models.
Zotac focuses on the 7-inch OLED touch display with 1920 × 1080 pixels and a refresh rate of 120 hertz. Self-illuminating OLED pixels promise high contrasts and good HDR display with a brightness of 800 cd/m². Zotac does not say whose panel technology is used. Although the company states "AMOLED" (Active Matrix OLED), the vast majority of panels today are actively controlled.
Eight-core CPU from AMD
AMD's Ryzen 7 8840U mobile processor with eight Zen 4 cores and a fast integrated graphics unit powers the Zone. A fan blows the hot air out of the top. Zotac varies between 16 and 24 GB of LPDDR5X-7500 RAM; a final decision has not yet been made.
There will be a single model with a 512 GB NVMe SSD (PCI Express 4.0 x4). However, if you want more storage space, you can replace the SSD. There is also a slot for a microSD card. Windows 11 Home is pre-installed on the SSD. A dedicated software launcher allows you to start all installed games and make all kinds of settings, including the key assignment for each game. Peripherals, external displays or docking stations can be connected via two USB4 ports (USB type C). The handheld communicates wirelessly via Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2.
Kickstand, reverb effect, trackpads
The kickstand allows you to place the handheld in front of you. This is practical if you want to watch a movie on the go or prefer to play with a mouse and keyboard or a gamepad. The handheld can also be used for video conferencing – There is a camera on the front.
Both the joysticks and the trigger buttons use Hall-effect technology with a magnetic mechanism. This is intended to prevent so-called joy drift and make the joysticks in particular more durable. The trigger depth can be adjusted mechanically in two stages: The full trigger travel is useful in racing games, for example, to dose the throttle. A short trigger travel is useful in shooters, where the trigger only triggers shots.
(Image: c't / chh)
There are rotary buttons around the joysticks that can be used to adjust the speaker volume, for example. Adjustable vibration motors are located in the sides. Zotac has copied the two trackpads from Valve's Steam Deck. These are particularly useful on the desktop for moving the mouse pointer and in strategy games.
At Gamescom for 800 euros
The Zone is slightly wider and higher than Valve's Steam Deck. The weight has not yet been determined, but Zotac wants to keep it under 700 grams. The battery has a capacity of 48.5 watt-hours.
At Computex, Zotac has so far only shown pre-production models of the Zone, for which the housing is not final. The manufacturer plans to launch the handheld in August at Gamescom. Recommended price: 800 euros. Zotac also wants to offer its own docking station, which is equipped with USB, image outputs, Ethernet and an M.2 SSD slot, among other things.
(Image: c't / chh)
Empfohlener redaktioneller Inhalt
Mit Ihrer Zustimmmung wird hier ein externer Preisvergleich (heise Preisvergleich) geladen.
Ich bin damit einverstanden, dass mir externe Inhalte angezeigt werden. Damit können personenbezogene Daten an Drittplattformen (heise Preisvergleich) übermittelt werden. Mehr dazu in unserer Datenschutzerklärung.
(mma)
