MSI’s New Claw 8 Ex Might Be the Pinnacle of Gaming Handhelds

MSI’s new Claw 8 EX AI+ is strictly the sort of handheld I need to slot between my weary fingers. The Intel-based gaming PC has the ergonomics of the now-$790 Steam Deck and nonetheless guarantees efficiency and effectivity that AMD’s choices lack. It’s too dangerous that it could price a miserable amount of cash.

This system has massive footwear to fill, contemplating the variety of comparable gadgets obtainable at present. But even in preproduction, when the {hardware} and software program are usually not finalized, this PC, constructed on your palms, excels in efficiency and luxury. It’s gentle sufficient, at 1.7 kilos, that I didn’t have to pressure to carry it aloft. Its show is giant sufficient that you simply’re not squinting on the characters on-screen. It hits goal body charges and efficiency, lastly giving me the sense that handhelds are coming into their very own.

Of course, for that privilege, the system might price near $1,500. MSI hasn’t revealed particular pricing but, however the Taiwan-based PC and peripheral firm, alongside Intel, has independently confirmed that we may very well be in for a dear system. I haven’t had sufficient testing time to correctly consider whether or not the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ is value the fee, although. I’m unsure any gaming handheld is value that a lot.

Anyway, I additionally spent a number of hours with all 4 newly introduced handhelds sporting Intel’s Arc G3 Extreme chip. There’s the OneXPlayer 3 and OneXPlayer X2, with the latter sporting an optionally available keyboard attachment and detachable controls like the now-$2,000 Lenovo Legion Go 2 (are you sensing a theme right here?). There’s additionally the Acer Predator Atlas 8, which packs an analogous 8-inch show to MSI’s Claw 8 Ex AI. Based purely on controls of those preproduction models, I might nonetheless favor the Claw.

I got here to Computex 2026 with the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X taking over house in my bag. I additionally had a DBrand Killswitch case wrapped round it, which makes the system really feel bulkier and heavier than it usually does. While the Claw 8 Ex weighs about 0.2 kilos greater than the Ally, it’s thinner due to the shortage of full Xbox-controller-like grips. MSI appears to have nailed the ergonomics this time. My arms slotted into every grip with ease, comforted by the textured plastic on both sides.

While the sticks felt thinner than I usually favor, that they had a full vary of motion. Plus, they’re Hall impact, a kind of magnetic sensing know-how that’s higher at resisting dreaded stick drift and false enter points. The Acer Predator Atlas is caught with old-school potentiometer joysticks, that are inherently liable to potential breakage. MSI’s face buttons and set off ergonomics additionally felt on level for my talon dimension.

MSI’s new handheld seems like one thing made for use exterior of a dock or away from an influence outlet. Considering that, it’s the efficiency that places this system excessive. I performed a number of video games, together with Forza Horizon 6, Hogwarts Legacy, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, all on the excessive TDP (thermal design energy) of 35W, and every managed to beat 60 fps on excessive graphics settings, with the assistance of Intel’s XeSS upscaling.

Intel guarantees these new Arc G3 Extreme-based handhelds will overcome AMD’s Ryzen Z2 Extreme in a number of key methods. In its personal charts, Intel guarantees you’ll see the brand new Claw 8 beat an Asus ROG Xbox Ally X operating at 1080p with 2X upscaling enabled (utilizing AMD’s FSR software program when Intel’s XeSS wasn’t supported). Some video games, like Diablo IV, get practically 85% higher efficiency—equal to 122 fps versus 66 fps. There have been titles that the Claw might play at greater than 60 fps, the place the Ally was scraping by at 30 fps.

That possible can’t be attributed to AI upscaling alone. On my flight to Taipei, Taiwan, I performed a number of hours of 007 First Light on the Xbox Ally X at low graphics settings, 25W TDP, and with FSR upscaling enabled, and managed between 30 and 40 fps. On the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+, with excessive graphics settings and FSR enabled, I might play the sport at a buttery 80 fps. That was operating the sport on the system’s full TDP and not using a energy cable, nevertheless it was nonetheless a greater expertise on the Claw than Ally.

 

At 17W, the Claw 8 nonetheless beats the Xbox Ally X in some video games, like Cyberpunk 2077. In different titles, like Crimson Desert or Battlefield 6, the Claw might carry out as much as 18% worse at these wattages. Intel chalked this as much as driver and compatibility points reasonably than {hardware}. It nonetheless reveals that how a lot better of an expertise you’ll have will depend on the video games you’re operating.

Intel’s Arc G3 Extreme is actually a cut-down Panther Lake laptop computer chip with solely two P (efficiency) cores. The different 12 cores are all E (effectivity) and LP-E (low-power effectivity) cores. It shifts the significance onto the GPU aspect of the chip. At energy ranges under 12W, Intel stated the hand-held doesn’t even allow the P cores. That’s how GPU-dependent this method is, although one benefit of counting on effectivity cores is general battery life. If you restrict the facility envelope to 17W on “endurance” mode, Intel claims you will get greater than 5 hours of battery life in a recreation like Forza Horizon 6.

It’s right here the place Intel tries to push its multi-frame technology know-how. This know-how is a type of body interpolation that inserts AI-generated frames between two rendered frames, artificially rising the body fee. The chipmaker burdened that it’s merely an choice. Intel fellow Tom Petersen, the corporate’s foremost mouthpiece for many issues gaming and computing, emphasised that this know-how is healthier regarded as body “smoothing” reasonably than rising actual efficiency.

I’ve stated it earlier than, however body technology makes extra sense on smaller screens with less-powerful methods. Frame technology produces odd visible artifacts, particularly when the sport runs at decrease body charges earlier than interpolation is enabled. It’s tougher to see these visible fake pas on a smaller show. Intel needs you to allow body technology that will help you recover from the hump of battery life, although you’ll nonetheless want to enter Intel’s graphics software program (which is able to power you to make use of the touchscreen) to power multi-frame technology to work in XeSS-compatible video games.

I used to be left hungering for extra time with the Claw 8 Ex AI+. Luckily, the system is ready to launch on June 25, so I received’t have to attend lengthy to get deeper into it. A $1,500 value level is a heavy cross to bear, even regardless of rising RAM costs. To be value it, the Claw has to change into the one handheld system you want. Let’s hope that’s the case.