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Zotac Zone

17th Dimension

17th Dimension

Handheld Gaming Reviewer
Staff member
Joined
Jul 31, 2024
Messages
21 (0.07/day)
Location
Novi Sad, Serbia
The Zone is Zotac's first PC gaming handheld. It is based on AMD's Ryzen 8840U processor, packs 16 GB of memory, 512 GB of NVMe storage and comes with Hall Effect triggers and thumbsticks alongside a gorgeous, OLED screen that supports HDR.

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Impressive performance... But the battery life is really poor. Sure, you can limit the CPU to Steam Deck level power consumption, but then you get Steam Deck level performance which you can have for one third of the price. Not worth it, imo.
 
Pretty good efficiency and performance. The build quality looks solid but the bottom of the barrel SSD and battery are really out of place in a 850eur device.
 
zotac-zone-dock-closer-look-02.jpg


The inscription doesn't look very good, especially with the stripes, bad design. The box shows a different design.
zotac-zone-dock-packaging-01.jpg
 
The gaming performance surprised me. I just expected it to match the Ally but it surpasses it. That said small batter and lack of RAM makes a no go for me. If Zotac chooses to stay in this market, this review makes me more interested in future models.
 
My investment is in STEAM. Whatever I buy must be 100% STEAM compatible. I'll wait for Steamdeck's 3rd or 4th generation when it's powerful enough to reliable run Cyberpunk RTX.
 
Testing a handheld at 25W mode is absurd, I can't see why that is even worth testing let alone using. Testing in the 10-15W range make sense though (keep in mind Switch OLED Tegra SoC uses about 6W) and nice to see AMD has improved their perf/watt SoC performance. When the eventual Steam Deck OLED 2 comes I'll be interested, maybe with TSMC 2nm by then to be a bigger more worthwhile jump.
 
Evrsr said:
Pretty good efficiency...
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I disagree. Less than one hour on one charge is terrible. You could limit power, but then, you've essentially got a ÂŁ350 Steam Deck for double the price. Or they could equip the thing with a bigger battery, but that would make it very heavy. No, efficiency needs to be improved.
 
Low quality post by zo0lykas
Chaitanya said:
Hopefully AMD will replace that 7840U soon it will be 2 years old.
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It looks like you have a problem reading, so I'm wondering if you can read my post.


The motherboard has the usual layout with the Ryzen 7 8840U at the center
 
zo0lykas said:
It looks like you have a problem reading, so I'm wondering if you can read my post
Click to expand...
Why? Why you want to stir it up? What's the point?
 
Worthless unless Valve save it with SteamOS support.

These hardware companies have always been absolutely awful at software, and Windows isn't exactly a good foundation to build on in the first place.

Also, at €849 I'm really kind of wanting the newer Strix point rather than Zen4 and last-gen RDNA3. It looks good for now but Go2 is just around the corner and we're expecting a Deck2 and Ally2 in 2025 so this good performance isn't going to look so good against 2025 offerings once they're here.
 
Certainly an interesting device. Not surprised about the software situation. Microsoft really needs to step up here and create a custom Windows shell for handheld devices, with proper integration with third-party launchers.

Also, thank you for mentioning ergonomics while lying down lol. This is the primary way I use my Ally.
 
Good points:
- Proper kickstand, nothing like the Legion Go's but better than the other handhelds in that regard
- Two USB4 ports on a device with a Pheonix/Hawk Point APU. The Legion Go did this right the first time, not sure why ASUS stuck with one 3.2 Gen 2 on the Ally X
- OLED panel that goes up to 800 nits
- Uses a 2280 M.2 slot
- Even though it's a single fan, it does the job and the 8840U can boost quite well even at 25W to 30W TDP

Bad points:
- Lacks VRR due to being a native portrait panel, despite being a good OLED
- 16 GB of RAM, should be at least 24 GB
- 48.5 Wh battery
- 512 GB SSD stock, but at least upgradable

That being said, if this had 32 GB of RAM, would be a worthy contender if you drop Bazzite in it. Its 7840U/8840U so it would be well-supported for a long while.
 
It looks nice but I'll wait to upgrade my OG Steamdeck for whatever Valve is cooking up next. I see a lot of companies jumping in on Handhelds. I own a very modded 64gb steamdeck and use it with my Xreal air glasses. I rarely use the SD's screen to play games. I hope the next Steamdeck will be a combo of Steamdeck2/computing puck with Deckard (Deck-AR-Device).

Also these devices need to be upgradable like the SteamDeck

My Steamdeck 64gb upgrades
  • 512gb M.2
  • frostsheet cpu/gpu thermal pad
  • New silent fan
 
Chrispy_ said:
Worthless unless Valve save it with SteamOS support.

These hardware companies have always been absolutely awful at software, and Windows isn't exactly a good foundation to build on in the first place.

Also, at €849 I'm really kind of wanting the newer Strix point rather than Zen4 and last-gen RDNA3. It looks good for now but Go2 is just around the corner and we're expecting a Deck2 and Ally2 in 2025 so this good performance isn't going to look so good against 2025 offerings once they're here.
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Thought valve already said deck 2 is going to be a while out. Something about wanting a bigger leap between devices.
 
At this price this device doesn’t make any sense. Better take a ROG Ally and optimise it or an Ally X.
 
Upgrayedd said:
Thought valve already said deck 2 is going to be a while out. Something about wanting a bigger leap between devices.
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I'm just going on rumours.

The Deck is three years old (feels like longer, but I had hands-on with the prototype before launch) and the 15-30W APU progress from AMD has been phenomenal compared to other CPU progress.
The other problem is that AAA game releases are really starting to struggle on the Deck. I think it's just that 4 cores, 8CU, and slow memory is hurting it compared to the competition that is is mostly using the Z1 with vastly more compute and much faster LPDDR5X

Personally, I feel that the strengths of handhelds aren't AAA game releases, I hate playing them at reduced quality on a tiny screen with a gamepad. AAA gaming is (again, just my opinion) the realm of high-quality, high-resolution, gaming sessions where I can sit down for multiple hours without interruption. Handhelds are where I fire up low-fi indie games like Brotato, DRG, or Slay the Spire where I can play a round of something in under 30 minutes. They're good for killing time during travel, brief downtime in the day between obligations, and a way to be present with a partner even if I have zero interest in what they're doing/watching/reading.
 
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While I think this device has quite a few strong suits, there are quite a few downsides to it. The poor battery life and awkward trackpad position (compared to the Deck, that is) are probably the deal-breakers that cannot be fixed. The software can be fixed and so can the price, so I wouldn't dock it for those things alone. I am still quite happy with my original Deck (originally 64 GB but upgraded to 512 GB) but I must say that mine was not put together super well (that was something I noticed before I disassembled it to upgrade the SSD).
 
Chrispy_ said:
Personally, I feel that the strengths of handhelds aren't AAA game releases, I hate playing them at reduced quality on a tiny screen with a gamepad. AAA gaming is (again, just my opinion) the realm of high-quality, high-resolution, gaming sessions where I can sit down for multiple hours without interruption. Handhelds are where I fire up low-fi indie games like Brotato, DRG, or Slay the Spire where I can play a round of something in under 30 minutes. They're good for killing time during travel, brief downtime in the day between obligations, and a way to be present with a partner even if I have zero interest in what they're doing/watching/reading.
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You're not wrong, until the handhelds get better, aside from a few exceptions of course.
 
jak_2456 said:
I am still quite happy with my original Deck (originally 64 GB but upgraded to 512 GB) but I must say that mine was not put together super well
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The OG deck was very much a loss-leader and the first waves were practically hand-built and hand-packed by Valve Seattle. A friend that works there loaned me his devkit towards the end of 2021 and I was disappointed with my retail purchase, but I managed to sell it for more than I paid for it.

I bought another Deck - this time the 64GB like you on the 1 year anniversary sale and honestly it's been incredible these past two years. Flawless build, all of my initial gripes solved, and that extra year of OS development made all the difference.
 
phints said:
Testing a handheld at 25W mode is absurd, I can't see why that is even worth testing let alone using. Testing in the 10-15W range make sense though (keep in mind Switch OLED Tegra SoC uses about 6W) and nice to see AMD has improved their perf/watt SoC performance. When the eventual Steam Deck OLED 2 comes I'll be interested, maybe with TSMC 2nm by then to be a bigger more worthwhile jump.
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Strong disagree from me on this, I only use the 30W setting on my Go. Each to their own on use cases, but for me I use my Go almost always within reach of a power socket so whilst I do usually game on battery, I can easily plug in if it gets low, but I tend to play for sessions shorter than the battery life anyway. I love how versatile these devices are, they can be your 10W multi-hour travel companion on 2D games or emulation, or your 30W quick game of something AAA on the sofa before bed.
 
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