Hands on with the Zotac Gaming Zone at Gamescom 2024

A PC handheld with more premium controls – The Zotac Gaming Zone looks like a great gaming device

OC3D is at Gamescom 2024, and at the event we were able to get hands on with the Zone PC handheld from Zotac Gaming. This handheld is currently available to pre-order, with retail availability soon.

If we are to summarise this handheld in the simplest terms, it is the most Steam Deck like of all of the Windows-powered PC gaming handhelds out there. It’s inclusion of trackpads is a great addition to the device. Furthermore, its use of premium gamepad components takes elevates this device above many of its competitors.

With the Zotac Gaming Zone we have hall effect triggers and joysticks, adjustable triggers, and an range of other controller customisation options. This handheld can be catered to your gamepad preferences, unlike devices like the ROG Ally, Steam Deck, or Lenovo Legion.

For games like Civilization, the Zone’s trackpads are an excellent addition. Not all PC games are well suited to gamepads. That’s why the addition of trackpads is a great one for this PC gaming handheld. This is one feature that gives the Steam Deck an advantage over its rivals, and Zotac Gaming has taken notes.

Zotac Gaming Zone Specifications

Powering this device is an AMD Ryzen 7 8840U processor, which features 8 Zen 4 CPU cores and Radeon 780M (RDNA 3) graphics. These specification exceed that of Valve’s Steam Deck by a hefty margin. That said, this SOC will consume more power and generate more heat than Valve’s custom SOC. The Zone will also feature 16GB of LPDDR5X-7500 memory onboard. The device also supports PCIe 4.0 storage through its 2280-sized M.2 slot.

The screen on this device is a 7-inch 1080p 120Hz AMOLED multi-touch display. This screen features HDR support, and boasts a maximum brightness of 800 nits. Furthermore, it is a screen that supports Variable Refresh Rates (VRR).

At Gamescom, the Zotac Gaming Zone was shown running Horizon Forbidden West. Note that this is a game that doesn’t run well on Valve’s Steam Deck.

Sadly, we were not able to properly put this handheld through its paces at Gamescom. It felt good in our hands, but we were unable to test it across multiple games or see how the handheld felt during a long gaming session. Unfortunately, we could only get a short glimpse of this handheld at Gamescom. Even so, that glimpse left us wanting more.

The Zotac Zone PC gaming handheld is available to pre-order now in the UK for £849 at Overclockers UK and Scan.

You can join the discussion on Zotac’s Zone PC gaming handheld on the OC3D Forums.