I. Preface: The World's Only AMOLED High Refresh Rate Screen Handheld, ZOTAC ZONE Stuns the Market

The handheld market has been buzzing in recent years. Besides the traditional Nintendo Switch, many PC manufacturers have also ventured into this space, offering solutions with AMD and Intel processors.

Following ASUS, Lenovo, and MSI, ZOTAC has also entered the handheld market with its ZOTAC ZONE, which was first showcased at Computex Taipei in early June this year and is now officially available.

ZOTAC ZONE is the world's first handheld to use an AMOLED 120Hz screen. It garnered widespread acclaim upon its debut and is now ready for users to experience firsthand.

ZOTAC ZONE stands out with its AMOLED high refresh rate screen, boasting a refresh rate of 120Hz. Compared to the mainstream IPS panels used in handhelds, it offers significantly better display quality and brightness, reaching a maximum of 800 nits, making it suitable for outdoor use.

The screen has a maximum resolution of 1920 X 1080, combined with AMOLED's unique self-emitting properties, providing finer display effects, excellent brightness, and contrast.

In terms of performance, it uses an AMD Ryzen 7 8840U processor and AMD Radeon 780M integrated graphics, ensuring impressive gaming performance.

In terms of keyboard layout, ZOTAC ZONE innovatively incorporates two mouse touchpads and two-stage adjustable triggers with one-button switching between long and short trigger travel, simplifying the user experience.

Without further ado, let's dive into ZOTAC ZONE's performance.

II. Appearance: Innovative Touchpad Design and Two-stage Triggers for a Better Experience

Packaging box.

ZOTAC ZONE's button layout is similar to an Xbox controller but includes additional common buttons and supports touchpads. The left touchpad functions as a scroll wheel, while the right one allows for sliding.

The hollowed-out air intake on the back is quite prominent.

Above the air intake, an RGB light strip blinks with the game, and there are two M keys beside it that support customization.

At the bottom, there is a retractable stand, allowing the handheld to stand upright on a desk easily.

It is equipped with Hall effect joysticks. Next to the direction keys is a menu button that can call up the in-game menu.

Below the joystick is a touchpad that functions as a scroll wheel.

Below the touchpad is the ZONE button, which quickly accesses the "ONE LAUNCHER" control suite.

The right side of the handheld also features a Hall effect joystick, with a menu button next to the ABXY keys.

Below the joystick is a touchpad that functions as a cursor.

On the left side below the touchpad are additional buttons for changing the handheld's parameters, and on the right side is the Home button, which returns to the home screen directly.

ZOTAC ZONE is the world's first handheld with two-stage adjustable triggers, supporting one-button switching between long and short trigger travel.

Long trigger travel is suitable for games requiring precise control, mimicking a throttle, while short trigger travel is ideal for games needing quick responses.

At the top of the handheld are the headphone jack, USB4 port, volume buttons, power button, and air exhaust grille.

At the bottom are the USB4 port and Micro SD card slot. A 65W PD Type-C GAN power adapter is included.

III. Screen and Disk Performance Testing: AMOLED Screen with Excellent Color Reproduction, Playable Outdoors

1. Screen Testing

ZOTAC ZONE features a 7-inch AMOLED screen with a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz and a peak brightness of 800 nits.

Compared to IPS panels, AMOLED screens offer higher contrast. Since each pixel emits light independently, AMOLED screens can display true black and provide infinite contrast when displaying black. Without a backlight, AMOLED colors appear purer and more vivid.

Most importantly, AMOLED screens have extremely fast response times, significantly reducing ghosting during gaming, making them ideal for gaming.

Tests show that the ZOTAC ZONE screen supports 100% of the sRGB color gamut, 94% of the Adobe RGB color gamut, and 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, the best performance among the handhelds tested.

At full brightness, the measured peak brightness is 846.1 nits, higher than the advertised 800 nits, making it suitable for outdoor gaming during the day.

The contrast ratio at maximum brightness is also as high as 31340:1, delivering excellent display quality.

In terms of color accuracy, the highest Delta E value is 3.41, the lowest is 0.22, and the average Delta E value is 1.63, demonstrating professional performance.

2. Memory Bandwidth Testing

The measured memory read, write, and copy bandwidths are 59222MB/s, 103GB/s, and 74538MB/s, respectively, with a latency of 128ns.

IV. 30W Power Consumption Gaming Test: Excellent Performance of Ryzen 7 8840U, Enjoying Multiple 3A Games

1. 3DMark

2. GTAV

3. Elden Ring

At 720P resolution, the frame rate is 60FPS.

At 1080P resolution, the frame rate is 50FPS.

4. Assassin's Creed: Origins

At 1080P resolution, the frame rate is 42FPS.

At 720P resolution, the frame rate is 66FPS.

5. Horizon Zero Dawn

At 720P resolution, the frame rate is 55FPS.

At 1080P resolution, the frame rate is 40FPS.

6. Far Cry 5

At 720P resolution, the frame rate is 47FPS.

At 1080P resolution, the frame rate is 44FPS.

7. Tomb Raider: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Frame rate is 42FPS at 1080P resolution.

Frame rate is 66FPS at 720P resolution.

8. Hogwarts Legacy

Frame rate is 33FPS at 1080P resolution.

Frame rate is 40FPS at 720P resolution.

9. Forza Horizon 5

Frame rate is 80FPS at 720P resolution.

Frame rate is 61FPS at 1080P resolution.

10. Cyberpunk 2077

Frame rate is 43.27FPS at 1080P resolution.

Frame rate is 67.02FPS at 720P resolution.

11. The Witcher 3

Frame rate is 54FPS at 1080P resolution.

Frame rate is 69FPS at 720P resolution.

12. Borderlands 3

Frame rate is 46.75FPS at 1080P resolution.

Frame rate is 80.9FPS at 720P resolution.

13. Gears 5

Frame rate is 75.6FPS at 720P resolution.

Frame rate is 59.9FPS at 1080P resolution.

14. Final Fantasy XV

Total score is 3645 at 1080P resolution.

Total score is 5656 at 720P resolution.

At a maximum power of 30W, several 3A games can achieve 60FPS+ at 1080P resolution and up to 80FPS+ at 720P resolution. The AMOLED screen provides excellent display effects and reduces ghosting, providing a fantastic gaming experience.

V. 15W Power Consumption Game Test: Enjoy Smooth Gameplay at 720P Resolution

1. 3DMark

2. GTA V

3. Elden Ring

Frame rate is 57FPS at 720P resolution.

Frame rate is 38FPS at 1080P resolution.

4. Assassin's Creed: Origins

Frame rate is 33FPS at 1080P resolution.

Frame rate is 47FPS at 720P resolution.

5. Horizon Zero Dawn

Frame rate is 30FPS at 1080P resolution.

Frame rate is 49FPS at 720P resolution.

6. Far Cry 5

Frame rate is 39FPS at 1080P resolution.

Frame rate is 56FPS at 720P resolution.

7. Tomb Raider: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Frame rate is 32FPS at 1080P resolution.

Frame rate is 51FPS at 720P resolution.

8. Hogwarts Legacy

Frame rate is 25FPS at 1080P resolution.

Frame rate is 37FPS at 720P resolution.

9. Forza Horizon 5

Frame rate is 64FPS at 720P resolution.

Frame rate is 48FPS at 1080P resolution.

10. Cyberpunk 2077

Frame rate is 32.08FPS at 1080P resolution.

At 720P resolution, the frame rate is 50.6 FPS.

11. The Witcher 3

At 1080P resolution, the frame rate is 36 FPS.

At 720P resolution, the frame rate is 49 FPS.

12. Borderlands 3

At 1080P resolution, the frame rate is 35.41 FPS.

At 720P resolution, the frame rate is 48.49 FPS.

13. Gears 5

At 720P resolution, the frame rate is 60.3 FPS.

At 1080P resolution, the frame rate is 45.9 FPS.

14. Final Fantasy XV

At 720P resolution, the total score is 4195.

At 1080P resolution, the total score is 2971.

Running 1080P resolution games at 15W is quite demanding, but most 3A games can still be enjoyed at 720P.

VI. Ryzen 7 8840U Benchmark Performance Test: Exceptional Performance Far Exceeding Ryzen 7 6800U

1. CPU-Z

The Ryzen 7 8840U scores 665.2 in the single-core test and 5837.4 in the multi-core test in CPU-Z.

2. CineBench R15

In R15, the Ryzen 7 8840U scores 257cb in the single-core test and 2115cb in the multi-core test.

3. CineBench R20

In R20, the Ryzen 7 8840U scores 644cb in the single-core test and 5149cb in the multi-core test.

4. CineBench R23

In R23, the Ryzen 7 8840U scores 1652pts in the single-thread test and 13279pts in the multi-thread test.

5. CineBench 2024

The Ryzen 7 8840U scores 97pts in the single-thread test and 759pts in the multi-thread test in CineBench 2024.

6. International Chess

The Ryzen 7 8840U's chess performance multiplier is 71.99, with 34,556 kNPS.

7. PCMark

The ZOTAC ZONE scores 319,000 points, surpassing 87% of users nationwide. The CPU scores 152,000 points, the GPU 69,000 points, memory 72,000 points, and disk 24,000 points.

The Ryzen 7 8840U processor in the ZOTAC ZONE significantly outperforms the Ryzen 7 6800U, with a 6% faster single-core performance and a 28% lead in multi-core performance.

VII. Stress Test and PCMark Battery Life Test: Up to One Day of Office Use

1. PCMark 10 Battery Life Test

The ZOTAC ZONE is equipped with a large 48.5Wh battery. We used PCMark 10 to test its battery life.

The test scenario selected was PCMark 10's Modern Office, with the performance mode set to 30W and all other processes closed during testing, and screen brightness adjusted to 50%.

Although the ZOTAC ZONE's battery is not very large, it achieved a battery life of 6 hours and 46 minutes in the PCMark 10 Modern Office scenario.

This is thanks to the low power consumption of the AMOLED screen. For mobile office use, it should last a full day on a full charge.

2. Gaming Battery Life Test

Battery life has always been a weakness for handheld consoles. With brightness set to 40%, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connected, and 30W power consumption, playing GTA V for 10 minutes consumed about 16% battery life on the ZOTAC ZONE, allowing for about one hour of gameplay on a full charge.

With brightness set to 40%, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connected, and 15W power consumption, playing GTA V for 10 minutes consumed about 10% battery life, allowing for about one and a half hours of gameplay.

3. Stress Test

After running AIDA64 FPU for 20 minutes, the processor power consumption stabilized at around 30W, with the overall system power consumption at 45W and CPU temperature at 70°C.

During the stress test, the highest temperature reached was 54.3°C, concentrated at the air outlet, with no impact on the controller area.

VIII. Conclusion: Unparalleled AMOLED Experience with the ZOTAC ZONE

After continuous testing and gameplay over the past few days, the ZOTAC ZONE has provided me with an unparalleled experience.

Firstly, the CPU, the Ryzen 7 8840U, delivers excellent gaming performance with a maximum power consumption of 30W. All tested games ran smoothly, with several AAA titles achieving frame rates of 60-70 FPS. This performance is remarkable among handheld consoles.

In terms of layout, the ZOTAC ZONE's buttons are very reasonably placed. Each direction has only one button, eliminating the risk of accidental presses. The buttons are easily accessible, and the built-in touchpad makes navigation a breeze.

The ZOTAC ZONE's screen stands out among its peers. The 120Hz AMOLED display with a maximum brightness of 800 nits is unparalleled in handheld consoles. Its clarity and vibrant colors surpass IPS screens. With a maximum brightness comparable to that of a regular smartphone, it's perfect for outdoor use.

Although the ZOTAC ZONE arrived a bit late, the experience it offers is undoubtedly worth the wait. Its outstanding CPU performance, well-thought-out button layout, and stunning AMOLED screen make it a must-try for handheld console enthusiasts.

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