As we reported, the Zotac Gaming Zone made an appearance at Computex 2024. Fortunately, unlike the MSI Claw 8 AI Plus which was locked down quilte tightly, the former company had three of its own handheld for members of the media to mess around with.
Well, fortunately for us anyway, as I hesitate to say the same for the Zotac Gaming Zone itself. As mentioned in the report itself, it looks a lot like the Steam Deck – almost too much alike. But let’s carry on before we prematurely pass judgment. In hand, the Zotac Gaming Zone feels pretty light. Not so much that it feels cheap, but it gives the impression that your hands and arms will be comfortable enough holding on to it for extended periods of time.
The buttons on the Zotac Gaming Zone are fine, for the most part. The face buttons feels nice to press, and the shoulders have minimal travel without feeling too rigid. Triggers are responsive too, with enough springback to make it not feel floaty. The D-pad though is the odd one out, as pushing down in any direction makes a really loud clicky sound, like you would expect from an arcade stick with an octagonal gate with no dampeners.
Below the D-pad and the face buttons are the two touch pads, which make them look a lot like the Steam Deck. I hadn’t tested those out much, unfortunately, but those, the position of the D-pad and left stick, and the general look of the layout, is just about a dead ringer of the Valve handheld.
Around the back, the Zotac Gaming Zone has its own set of back buttons, which are nice. Also as a nice bonus, you get two sliding knobs that let you change the deadzone of the triggers. Also here is the kickstand, but due to its size and location, it doesn’t really work as good as it should.
With one of the Zotac Gaming Zone available for demo purposes was running Horizon Zero Dawn, playing the game also induced some of the haptic vibrations. These feel a tad sharp, though I can’t say for certain whether it’s a good or bad thing.
One thing I can say for certain falls into the latter category though is that the handheld runs really hot. You won’t feel it much while your hands are on the sides, but it’s immediately obvious when you have to touch the screen, or have to move your hand over the top vents. For what it’s worth, the cooling system works, but that it is generating that much heat in the first place is a tad worrying.
One thing that I didn’t mention in the initial report was that there was a dock for the Zotac Gaming Zone. While there isn’t much to say on whether it works well enough, it looks to have a healthy number of ports, which is nice. Also present is a carrying case for the handheld.
As mentioned in the report, the Zotac Gaming Zone now has an availability window of September, with a price of about US$800 (~RM3,762). With such a price tag, it faces tough competition from the other players in the space. But without the specs to back it up, and with the word “beta” in the spec sheet, it’s certainly not making a case for itself.
