Zotac has a handheld in the works to join the many such devices that have come into existence since the Steam Deck sparked the portable PC gaming craze.
VideoCardz reports that the Zotac Zone will be shown off at Computex next week, but the company – best known for its graphics cards among other PC hardware – is teasing some info on the device early.
Namely that the Zone will feature a 7-inch AMOLED screen, and as such it’ll be hoping to make its mark with a high-quality display.
That’s the main nugget of info we’re given, though we have also been treated to some rather shadowy pics of the handheld, showing that the Zone will have Xbox-style buttons, and we’re told it’ll feature two-stage adjustable triggers. There’s also an RGB strip on the rear of the device to jazz up the appearance somewhat.
Tony Wong, Zotac’s CEO, makes the expected promises of raising the bar in the handheld space and delivering a product which is “tailor-made with competitive features for all gamers.”
Zotac’s Zone isn’t ready yet, mind, and what we’ll see at Computex is a ‘functional’ prototype – although that could be a hint of something exciting, perhaps.
Analysis: Lunar rocket?
What are we talking about in terms of potential excitement here? Well, if the Zone handheld is still some way from release, that presents an intriguing possibility. As VideoCardz theorizes, it’s likely that Zotac’s device will run with an Intel CPU – mind you, we don’t know that for sure.
However, if this is the case, then the Zone could have a Meteor Lake CPU (Core Ultra 100) for an engine – or alternatively, if it’s still a fair way off release, we might be seeing a Lunar Lake chip inside. That’s exciting because Intel is making some big promises with Lunar Lake as seriously nifty power-efficient silicon, and we’re very keen to see how this might pep up the world of handhelds.
That said, while Lunar Lake is supposedly ready for a Q3 launch, volume production won’t happen for a considerable time after that. And if Zotac has a functional prototype right now, odds are it’ll be using Meteor Lake at this point, we’d imagine.
Still, with Intel expected to tease Lunar Lake at Computex, could Zotac’s Zone revelation tie into that somehow? Well, we can hope, but we’re not convinced – Meteor Lake seems more likely, frankly, if an Intel chip is used. Whatever the case, another handheld option with OLED is going to be good to see, going up against the Steam Deck variant which offers that display too.
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