Ok, so I wandered into Zotac’s booth at Computex 2025, and bam! There it was. A handheld thingy, and I mean, it kinda floored me. They slapped this slick 7-inch AMOLED screen on it. Why AMOLED? No idea, but probably because it sounds fancy? Anyway, inside it’s rocking AMD’s Ryzen AI HX 370 APU, part of the Strix Point gang. Pretty hardcore stuff, right?
Now, this is where it got weird. They ditched Windows and SteamOS. Bold move! Instead, they’re rolling with Manjaro Linux. Yup, you heard me. Manjaro. And the whole Zen of tech naming hasn’t hit them, I guess, ’cause it’s called “Zone 2,” but nobody’s sure if it’ll stick. Or maybe they’re just trolling. Who knows.
Look, I still remember Zone 1, ‘cause it was like a September thing last year. Powered by some AMD doodad – Ryzen 7 8840U, if you wanna get nerdy about it – but that was 2023. Seems like Zotac’s been slacking, though. Competition is rip-roaring ahead. They teased the Zone 2 at CES in January and now did it again at Computex. Maybe indecision or they just love to tease. Who knows, right?
The handheld itself is packing some serious heat. AMD’s Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 APU – that’s 12 cores! (4 Zen 5 + 8 Zen 5c for the tech-savvy folks keeping score). It’s got this shiny Radeon 890M iGPU and a beefy 50 TOPS NPU… I mean, I don’t even know what I’d do with that much NPU power. Who’s not overdoing it these days? LPDDR5x memory is either 24 or 32GB – take your pick. And the cherry on top? A 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD. Don’t like it? Swap it out. User-upgradeable, because, apparently, DIY is “in.”
Oh, right! Picture this – a 7-inch AMOLED beauty offering 1080p resolution, 120 Hz refresh rate (bling, bling!), with 800-nits brightness… and more tech mumbo-jumbo about HDR. They threw on a kickstand too, kinda like the Switch. Predictable but still cool.
The operating system is this immutable version of Manjaro Linux with KDE Plasma 6. Super geek-mode, huh? Apparently works like SteamOS. Now, Proton may or may not handle game compatibility without a hitch, dunno. Anti-cheat junk might ruin your multiplayer, though. Annoying, I get it. Switching to another OS is an option for the adventurous.
And the power? A 48.5Wh battery. It’s as long-winded as the first Zone. Ports galore, WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2… and yes, for the retro gang, a 3.5mm jack. The back’s got extra buttons and heat-dissipation mesh. Why care? I don’t know. Zotac’s mum on global launch deets. They’re pulling a Houdini move on us. Stay tuned, I guess.
By the way, follow Tom’s Hardware on Google News. They’re legit with the tech stuff. That’s it. That’s me done here.
