Kunal Khullar / Digital Trends
Computex 2024was a gateway for new handheld play cabinet , but there was one in particular that sincerely stood out . The newZotac Zoneis the companionship ’s first attempt at take a leak a hand-held cabinet , and early impression are quite irrefutable . Not only does it come with some alone lineament but it is also one of the only handhelds on the market that feature an AMOLED panel .
The only other gadget that comes near to offer such a display is theSteam Deck OLED . But how do these two handheld consoles clean when equate to each other ? permit ’s have a flavor .
Kunal Khullar / Digital Trends
Price and availability
The Steam Deck OLED was launch in November last yr , and unlike its LCD adaptation , it is available in only two configuration : a 512 GB framework for $ 550 and a 1 TB example for $ 650 . Notably , the high - storage model features an inscribed glass display that is said to be more resistant to glare .
Zotac on the other hand plans to launch its new handheld somewhere by the ending of September this year . As of now , the company has confirmed a single 512 GB store variant with 16 GB memory and an expected price of $ 700 . The fellowship says that the terminal retail pricing will be support nigher to the launching date .
If Zotac finish up launching its handheld at the above - mentioned damage , the Steam Deck OLED is going to be the clear winner in terms of economic value . On the other hand , it is important to consider that the Zotac Zone will have an added advantage when it come to overall feature , peculiarly since it runs on full - fledged Windows 11 .
Steam Deck OLED
Zotac Zone
Wi - Fi 6EBluetooth 5.3
While the Steam Deck OLED holds up on its own , the Zotac Zone is more high - end in almost every panorama . It is power by the more late AMD Ryzen 7 8840U APU with eight cores and 16 threads , couple with Radeon 780 M computer graphic . The handheld also comes with fast 16 GB of LPDDR5X RAM , which should result in fast carrying into action , while the inclusion of dual USB 4.0 Type - C ports means high bandwidth and more flexibility in terms of charging .
maybe the only area where the Steam Deck OLED may have a slender edge is that its OLED panel , despite having a lower resolution and refresh charge per unit , offers higher light and supports varying refresh rate . The Steam Deck also arrive with a marginally larger barrage fire on newspaper , but depending on various factor , it is extremely possible that the end product , in terms of battery backup , may not diverge by much .
Performance
I got a chance to play with the Zotac Zone last week at Computex 2024 . It deal to deliver keen results inForza Horizon 5andHorizon Forbidden West , but I was n’t in full impressed as the handheld is not fully optimized and requires some tweaking . Now since it was a pre - production whole , I was n’t able-bodied to do thoroughgoing testing that could help oneself in liken carrying out with the Steam Deck OLED .
fortuitously , we do have a compare of the Steam Deck against theAsus ROG Allywith AMD ’s Z1 Extreme chipset , which is more or less interchangeable to the Ryzen 7 8840U that will be powering the Zotac Zone .
As per testing done by our very own Jacob Roach , the ROG Ally is over 50 % quicker than the Steam Deck , while the OLED variance should deliver just a few extra systema skeletale compared to the LCD version . Even at its higher 1080p resolution , the ROG Ally with the Z1 Extreme chip delivers becoming frames and has the capability of run between 7W and 30W , while the Steam Deck OLED only operate between 4W and 15W.
It is important to note that the approaching Zotac Zone will come with LPDDR5X memory clock at 7500MHz , which is faster than both the ROG Ally and Steam Deck OLED .
Just like the ROG Ally , the operating system of rules is going to be a of the essence factor . run on Windows 11 , the Zotac Zone will not only tender memory access to your Steam subroutine library but also have the option of other services like Xbox Game Pass , Epic Games Store , and a embarrassment of emulator to opt from .
New OLED champion?
The Steam Deck OLED is not break down to tolerate a chance against the approaching handheld from Zotac . The Zone features all the proper ingredient include an AMOLED panel with a high firmness of purpose and faster refresh rate , a more powerful CPU paired with fast storage , and overall some interesting characteristic like a front - facing Windows Hello photographic camera , rotating lope telephone dial , and double USB Type - C ports .
If you are keep up to buy a new hand-held console , my suggestion would be to await for at least a few more month . aside from the Zotac Zone , Asus is going to launch the freshen up Ally X , which promise better barrage life and additional features . Not to forget , the MSI Claw 8 AI+ powered by Intel ’s new Lunar Lake - base chipset is also in the works .
