MSI Claw 8 AI+ Overview: Plush And Premium Handheld Gaming

	MSI Claw 8 AI+ Home windows Gaming Handheld: $899 at Amazon, 7″ Mannequin for $799 MSI’s second-gen Claw 8 makes use of an environment friendly Lunar Lake CPU to ship higher gaming efficiency and battery life on a beautiful 8-inch show.
	Wonderful Gaming Efficiency Corridor-Impact Sticks And Sturdy Chassis Versatile Thunderbolt 4 Connectivity Giant And Vibrant 8-inch VRR Display Robust Combine Of Velocity And Battery Life	Might Be Cumbersome Or Heavy For Some Premium Value For A Premium Product Drab Greige Aesthetics

MSI’s first-generation Claw was a PC gaming handheld primarily based on an Intel processor that was technically by no means meant for handheld use. We had a powerful suspicion the second era can be higher, even earlier than we knew a lot about Intel’s spectacular Core Extremely 200V processors, code-named Lunar Lake. These chips are small, environment friendly, and speedy, notably due to their highly effective Xe2-based built-in graphics.

MSI has since launched two second-generation Claw handhelds round Lunar Lake chips. The primary, the MSI Claw 7 AI+, is basically a refresh of the first-gen Claw mannequin that swaps out the Meteor Lake half within the unique recipe for a skinny & gentle Lunar Lake SoC that provides radically improved gaming efficiency. In the meantime, the machine we have now right here is the Claw 8 AI+, a basically new design that sports activities an even bigger display screen, an even bigger battery, and higher cooling.

We have spent a few month with the Claw 8 AI+ as our major gaming system throughout downtime, and we have additionally in contrast it straight towards one in every of its closest opponents. It is a battle for the ages: ASUS versus MSI, AMD versus Intel, Radeon versus Arc. The conclusion won’t go precisely the way you assume, so stick round for the entire information and our full impressions on the finish.

For now, let’s check out the specs of this beefy little machine:

The MSI Claw 8 AI+ is strictly what you’ll anticipate from a Lunar Lake-based gaming handheld. You get a cheap mannequin of the Lunar Lake design, with the full-fat GPU and full 12MB of L3 cache, however with out the elevated clock charges of the 268V or 288V fashions. That is high quality; the system is GPU-limited anyway. MSI was intelligent to equip this machine with one of many 32GB Core Extremely SKUs. Should you recall, on Lunar Lake, the reminiscence is on the identical package deal with the CPU, so it’s a must to decide your RAM configuration when selecting the processor. (Should you weren’t conscious of that, head over and skim our deep dive on these chips.)

We’ll speak in regards to the display screen and the bodily traits of the Claw 8 AI+ in our walk-around in only a second, however we did need to level out a couple of different specs, just like the 1TB SSD, the Intel-powered Wi-Fi 7 chip, and the truth that this machine has twin Thunderbolt 4 ports for exterior connectivity slightly than being restricted to USB 3.x or only one Thunderbolt port, like a lot of its opponents. It additionally has a big 80-Whr battery, which contributes to its sturdy battery life. Let’s go forward and take a look at this method intimately, lets?

MSI Claw 8 AI+ Gaming Handheld Design And Options

As you possibly can see, the system itself has a reasonably commonplace structure. On the left aspect you could have a Corridor-effect analog stick, two “perform” keys (view and MSI Middle, on this case), and an uncommon D-pad with a deeply concave design. Over on the correct you could have one other Corridor-effect analog stick, two extra perform keys (menu and overlay), and naturally the standard 4 face buttons. The beautiful show is touch-capable, and the audio system are surprisingly brilliant and clear—if missing in bass response, as you may solely anticipate from 2W handheld audio system.

The Claw 8 AI+, like competing ASUS’ ROG Ally machines, comes with a stand, however not like these it’s a must to carve it out of the machine’s packaging after which fold it collectively like a chunk of horrible origami. We applaud MSI for encouraging customers to upcycle the field, however we most likely would have most well-liked a barely extra sturdy stand for taking these pictures. Nonetheless, it labored properly sufficient—when augmented with paperclips, anyway.

The display screen on the MSI Claw 8 AI+ is the star of the present and deserves particular consideration. It isn’t an OLED and it is not even HDR. Nevertheless, it’s a 120-Hz LCD with VRR assist and exceptionally good movement readability for this kind of display screen. It is also an IPS-type, so it would not expertise coloration shifting once you’re shifting the system round in your fingers. General, the big display screen is not the biggest we have examined in a tool of this sort—that honor nonetheless goes to Lenovo’s Legion Go—and but it is nonetheless loads sufficiently big to impress visually.

One other wonderful high quality of the show on the Claw 8 AI+ is that it’s a native panorama show. Which means it’s not a rotated portrait show. That is vital, as a result of it implies that if you happen to ever fresh-install an working system, or if you happen to launch sure video games that set the display screen mode in deprecated methods, you do not have to fret in regards to the display screen being rotated 90 levels from what you’d anticipate. That is additionally true of the ROG Ally methods that we’re evaluating towards, however another handhelds, notably the Steam Deck and Legion Go, use native portrait screens which can be rotated in software program, which is usually a ache.

However, the odd beige or “greige” handgrips on the Claw 8 AI+ are an fascinating aesthetic selection. We do not thoughts the take a look at all, however others have commented that the system just isn’t notably enticing and “like a chunk of utilitarian navy gear.” Virtually all different gaming handhelds are pure black, pure white, or some mixture of black and white, so we have now to applaud MSI for doing one thing completely different, however “completely different” would not at all times imply “higher.” Maybe swappable handgrips in quite a lot of colours is likely to be a pleasant improve for the subsequent era.

Across the again of the system you could have an enormous MSI Defend brand, giant vents for cooling the machine, two configurable macro buttons, and never a lot else. What else might be on the again? Effectively, we might have favored to have seen a kickstand, really. The controllers aren’t removable, however the display screen on the Claw 8 AI+ is sufficiently big that it might simply be used to look at movies whereas propped up on a desk, and you’ll at all times use bluetooth controllers, too. It isn’t a essential failure, however we do assume the omission of a stand is a missed alternative.

On the highest of the Claw is the place the magic occurs; that is the place the entire I/O for the system is. From left to proper, you could have a pair of very nice-feeling buttons—the triggers are absolutely analog—a quantity rocker, the three.5mm headphone jack, a cool Claw brand, the twin Thunderbolt 4 ports, the MicroSD slot, the facility button (which doubles as a fingerprint reader for Home windows Good day), after which lastly the left bumper and left set off. The system exhausts out of the highest, primarily at both finish of the big vent there the place the twin followers are, nevertheless it actually would not make that a lot warmth—definitely nothing just like the ROG Circulate z13 we simply reviewed.

Then, on the underside, there’s not a lot to see moreover some regulatory labeling, though we have now to notice that the system is formed such that it can’t rise up on its base. That is under no circumstances a singular fault to the Claw so we’re completely not dinging MSI for this, however simply know that regardless of this photograph making it look fairly flat, it is not.

We wished to speak a bit extra in regards to the controls earlier than we transfer on. The Claw 8 is a fairly large machine and yours actually is a fairly large man. In my fingers, the Claw 8 feels very comfy and pure, whether or not utilizing the odd-but-pleasant D-pad or the responsive analog sticks. Nevertheless, for somebody with smaller fingers, notably a toddler or younger girl, this machine could also be tougher to sport on. Concerning the D-pad particularly, it feels nice for retro video games and indie video games, however titles that need fast faucets (for e.g. choosing weapons) could take some apply because the stable nature of the pad could make it slightly arduous to seek out your home on it.

After all, earlier than we even speak in regards to the dimensions of the sport controls, we have now to speak in regards to the weight of the system. The Claw 8 AI+ weighs 794g in response to MSI; our machine weighs in at 789g, which is shut sufficient to be measurement error. The purpose is, it is comparatively heavy and practically a full 200 grams heavier than the ASUS ROG Ally and Steam Deck OLED, to say nothing of the Nintendo Swap which is a measly 420 grams with its Pleasure-Cons hooked up. Put merely, the Claw 8 AI+ could be taxing to make use of for lengthy durations. Should you’re after one in every of these, you’d higher have some fairly important forearm energy, particularly if you wish to make use of the gyro perform that requires exact actions.

We do not actually take into account this to be a fault of the system as a result of it’s simply the character of the beast, as a bigger handheld. if you happen to’re contemplating a purchase order of one in every of these units, it’s best to know what you are moving into. The Claw 8 AI+ remains to be lighter than the Lenovo Legion Go by round 50 grams.

That is sufficient leering on the system. Let’s check out the MSI software program earlier than hitting the benchmarks.