MSI Announces a Replacement for the Disappointing Claw Handheld Gaming PC

MSI Claw 8 AI Plus was announced by the company on Tuesday at Computex 2024. The handheld gaming PC is expected to arrive as the successor to the first-generation Claw model that launched in March this year to disappointing reviews that criticised its Intel Meteor Lake chip for unsatisfactory performance, especially when going up against the likes of Asus ROG Ally and Steam Deck OLED, despite costing more than them. With the Claw 8 AI Plus, a replacement for MSI’s console might soon be available.

MSI Claw 8 AI Plus announced

The company unveiled its next-generation handheld gaming PC – the Claw 8 AI Plus – during the ongoing Computex 2024 expo in Taipei. The new Intel Lunar Lake chip will power it, with MSI claiming it will be the “world’s first gaming handheld” to feature the aforementioned Intel Core Ultra processor.

Pricing for the MSI Claw 8 AI is yet to be announced by the company and we can expect more details to arrive in the coming months.

MSI Claw 8 AI Plus specifications

In a blog post, the company says it will sport an 8-inch Full HD display with a 120Hz refresh rate and VRR support.

The MSI Claw 8 AI Plus is also tipped to get a bigger battery, potentially up to 80Wh, according to a Verge report. This may bring it to par with the Asus ROG Ally X which was also announced at Computex 2024. The handheld PC will also get a second USB Type-C port with Thunderbolt 4 capabilities, according to MSI.

The potential ROG Ally X competitor will also get a wall-mounted charger, as well as an improved “tactile feel of the LB/RB buttons”.

For reference, the Asus ROG Ally X is powered by an AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme CPU, featuring a Zen 4 architecture with 8 cores. The chip is paired with an RDNA 3 iGPU and 24GB LPDDR5 RAM. Compared to the newly announced MSI Claw 8 AI Plus, it gets a slightly smaller 7-inch full-HD IPS display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a 7ms response time.

Claw x Fallout

Alongside the MSI Claw 8 AI Plus, the company announced that it is collaborating with Bethesda to launch a Claw x Fallout co-branded limited edition handheld gaming PC. MSI says it will feature a 7-inch display and a design inspired by various elements of Fallout, such as vaults, Pip-Boys, and robots.

This will offer “fans an immersive experience in the game’s post-nuclear apocalypse atmosphere”, MSI says.

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