A new player is looking into the market for portable consolesand not just any, since Zotac is used to “mini” solutions.
Mentioned several times in recent weeks, the rumor of a portable console from Zotac was ultimately not a rumor, and the firm took advantage of Computex 2024 to present its baby.
This console stands out first of all by integrating the most recent of AMD’s APUs, but also and above all by being one of the only ones to feature an AMOLED panel, while the competition remains stuck on IPS.
A Ryzen 7 8840U equivalent to the Z1 Extreme
Called Zotac Zone, the first portable console from this company specializing in graphics cards and mini-PCs adopts a rather conventional design which is inspired as much by the ROG Ally as by the Steam Deck.
The beast is therefore relatively bulky with its 31 centimeters long, 13.5 cm wide and exactly 4 cm thick. On the other hand, the weight seems contained at “less than 700 grams”, but without a precise value. At the heart of the machine, we therefore find the Ryzen 7 8840U used by many Chinese companies such as AYANEO and not the Z1 Extreme used by ASUS on its ROG Ally for example.
Performance should however be similar because the Ryzen 7 8840U is very close with its 8 cores/16 Zen 4 threads (up to 5.1 GHz) and its 12 RDNA 3 computing units. We are talking about 16 GB of LPDDR5X-7500 to support this APU which is lower than ASUS’ announcements for its ROG Ally X.
“Only” 7-inch AMOLED panel
On the other hand, Zotac was inspired by Valve by favoring an AMOLED panel where most competitors remain in IPS. The image should therefore be much more beautiful, much more contrasted with impeccable viewing angles.
Problem, however, the Zotac Zone only includes a 7-inch panel while the Steam Deck OLED for example is 7.6 inches. Another concern, our colleagues at VideoCardz understand that internally, it is a “portrait” panel which can cause inconvenience on certain games. More annoying, while the competition has adopted 80 Wh batteries from ASUS like MSI, Zotac only integrates a 48.5 Wh battery.
Beyond performance and autonomy, the essential question for such a machine remains its price. Zotac seems to want to market its Zone during the third quarter of 2024 at more or less 800 dollars/euros, but has not yet officially communicated on this point. Patience, patience…
Source : VideoCardz
Having fallen into video games at a time when it took a great imagination to see here a football match, there a tank fight in these few bars represented on the screen, I have followed all the developments for forty years. Loyal to the PC, but a fan of all genres, I only have trouble with JRPGs. Otherwise, from the driest turn-based strategy to the most spectacular FPS, including sports simulations or musical games, I can do it all... with a preference for management and games combining several styles. My video game pantheon would consist of three series: Elite, Civilization and Max Payne.
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