MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ Review: Great Power, Shocking Price Leave a comment

It’s virtually lined in ports—two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C, a microSD slot, and even a 3.5-mm audio jack. It’s comparatively future-proof, permitting you to improve the SSD (in the event that they’re ever inexpensive once more), with Wi-Fi 7 assist.

It’s all crammed right into a “Void Purple” shell that impresses with a premium really feel. An etched micro-texture affords a safe grip, whereas the Xbox-standard management format is inside straightforward attain for many gamers, though the 4 menu and system buttons flanking the display screen might require a stretch. Analog sticks (encircled with LED gentle halos, naturally) and shoulder triggers are constructed with Corridor impact sensors for improved accuracy and long-term resilience and supply a pleasant diploma of resistance when pressed. The chunky, angular D-pad feels nice too, though its concave form might take a second to get used to, and its shiny plastic picks up microscratches simply.

Though it’s working Home windows 11 underneath the hood, the full-screen Xbox Mode takes the lead, giving a unified view of video games put in from any storefront. The Claw lacks a devoted Xbox system button, however with two mappable rear grip buttons, it’s straightforward sufficient to assign one. Given that you may set up every other consumer, I set the opposite as a Steam menu button, helpful for shortcuts when working Steam’s Massive Image Mode.

Regardless of the Claw’s 785-gram heft, its ergonomics and weight distribution compensate splendidly. It outweighs each the Steam Deck and the ROG Xbox Ally X, however I discovered it far more snug to make use of, even for protracted play classes. Superior haptics additionally impress, with a pleasant sense of suggestions precisely representing on-screen motion.

The display screen is nice, however not superb. The IPS panel delivers a crisp, clear picture with brightness as much as 500 nits, however at this worth, I’d hope for an OLED panel to make colours actually pop. That 120-Hz VRR ensures a clean picture at the very least, and the 16:10 side ratio offers a refined however noticeable bit extra actual property to your video games.

I wasn’t initially a fan of the display screen extending under the “shell” of the unit, but it surely’s a intelligent design, serving as a kickstand to let the hand held stand vertically. That is surprisingly helpful if you wish to join the machine to an output dock for TV play. I used an OWC Thunderbolt Go dock, and whereas it isn’t as elegant or safe as sliding a Nintendo Swap 2 into its caddy, it means the Claw can match neatly right into a media unit. Simply pair a recreation controller and also you’re good for big-screen gaming.

Arc de Triomphe

The actual star of the Claw is Intel’s new Arc chipset, which delivers phenomenal outcomes. The Arc G3 Excessive is constructed round Intel’s Panther Lake structure, which affords a large efficiency enhance over the previous Lunar Lake chips. It’s considerably sooner than just about every other chip in a PC handheld, and Intel’s XeSS—Xe Tremendous Sampling, its reply to Nvidia’s DLSS or AMD’s FSR—can enhance efficiency additional with sensible upscaling and body era.