How much do you really value PC gaming in your pocket? Put a number on it. If that number is $1,800, MSI wants to talk to you. The Claw 8 EX AI+ just landed, and it is the newest heavyweight in their lineup.
Starting a review with the price feels odd. Usually, I talk about performance first. But $1,800 dominates the room. It makes the ROG Xbox Ally X —which I previously roasted for costing $1,000—look like a clearance find. You could buy three standard Ally units for what this one MSI handheld costs. Even the Lenovo Legion Go 2 started life cheaper, despite later inflating its MSRP toward $1,350.
Is MSI being greedy? Maybe. Or maybe it is the AI bubble choking supply chains. Components are scarce. Prices are up everywhere. MSI confirmed this, saying the cost reflects production reality. When you pack this much silicon into a small box, parts get expensive fast.
Hardware That Does Not Sleep
So, what are you buying? A beast.
The Claw 8 packs Intel’s new Arc G3 Extreme chip. It has 32 GB of LPDDR5x memory. It holds a 1 TB SSD. There is an 8-inch screen, 1920×1200, 120 Hz variable refresh rate. And an 80-watt-hour battery sits inside.
It is a port hub. Two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C slots. A microSD slot. Even a 3.5 mm jack. Wi-Fi 7 is there. The SSD is upgradable, assuming parts become affordable again. It is future-proofed.
The build quality surprises. The “Void Purple” shell has an etched micro-texture. It grips well. The layout follows standard Xbox conventions. Buttons are easy to reach. Four menu buttons sit near the screen. They require a slight finger stretch. The analog sticks use Hall effect sensors. They have LED halos. Naturally. Triggers feel good too. Solid resistance. No wear-and-tear anxiety there. The D-pad is chunky and angular. It has a concave shape that takes getting used to. It scratches easily. Glossy plastic always does.
Underneath, it runs Windows 11. But “Xbox Mode” dominates the interface. It shows games from every store. No dedicated Xbox button exists, but there are two rear mappable buttons. I set one to Steam Big Picture. The other became a quick launcher.
Weight? It is 785 grams. Heavier than the Steam Deck. Heavier than the Ally X. Surprisingly comfortable, though. The balance is good. Haptic feedback feels sharp. Accurate. The screen extends past the plastic body. At first, I hated it. Now, I like it. It acts as a kickstand. Prop the thing up. Plug in a dock. Play on your TV. I used an OWC dock. It works. Not as satisfying as a Nintendo Switch sliding into its dock, but functional. Pair a controller, and you are playing on a big screen.
Raw Power, Intel Style
The real headline is the chip. The Arc G3 Extreme is built on Panther Lake. It crushes the previous Lunar Lake chips. In this class of handheld, it is fast. Faster than most. Intel’s XeSS helps too. Upscaling. Frame generation. It mimics what Nvidia and AMD do.
Results are strong. Beat the ROG Xbox Ally X by a noticeable margin. Settings might need tweaking. Here is what I saw.
Playing Spider-Man Remastered. High settings. 90-120 FPS with XeSS at native 1920×1720 resolution.
Latency was fine. Smooth. I docked the unit. Played on a 4K TV. 60 FPS at 4K. Reliable.
Other games varied. Crimson Desert ran around 65 FPS without upscaling. Playable. Turn XeSS on. Jump to over 100 FPS.
Then there was Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight. This was… messy. 100 FPS in handheld mode with XeSS. Drop to 20 FPS during fast driving scenes. Dock it for TV? Five FPS. Unplayable. Bad game optimization, not bad hardware.
Power is the catch. Plug it in. The Claw is a monster. Run it on battery. It bleeds charge. That 80Wh battery died in 90 minutes while playing AAA titles. You can tweak settings. MSI has power profiles. The Endurance Mode is interesting. It locks framerates. Kills XeSS. Battery life explodes. Lego Batman ran smoother on this setting. Four hours of gameplay. Less demanding titles? Over eight hours. Vampire Survivors and Cassette Beasts ate little power.
Software Messes It Up
Windows is a handheld’s kryptonite. This is its biggest flaw.
The advantages exist. Play anything. No compatibility verification needed like on Deck. Install mods easily. Use it as a real PC with a monitor and keyboard. But Windows updates? A nightmare. Every boot cycle meant waiting. System updates. Security patches. Store updates. Client updates. Just try to play a game, right?
Desktop navigation is clunky. A mouse cursor moves via thumbstick. Awkward. Microsoft’s Game Assist (formerly Copilot) is still there. Baked into the Xbox app. It does nothing useful. Why is it here?
And then the interfaces compete. Xbox Mode. Steam Big Picture. MSI Claw Center M. The last one aims for a console vibe. Clean tiles. Wallpaper. Quick settings access. It crashes. It flashes and closes. Controls get locked out. You are stuck until you touch the screen or restart the whole device. It is an overlay, so background tasks still move the cursor. You finish a setting change. Accidentally open Steam Forums. Or launch Call of Duty instead of your intended game.
Fixable with updates? Probably. But it feels unpolished.
The Verdict
Performance is top-tier. Best-in-class for a PC handheld. In a normal market, this would be the easy buy for serious players. Dock it at home. Play it out. A legitimate TV console alternative.
But $1,800 demands perfection. This isn’t perfect. It is buggy. It is heavy. It fights its own OS.
Rich buyers will get joy from this machine. It is fast. It is well-built. Everyone else should wait. Or buy an Ally.
Will MSI fix the software? Probably. Will they lower the price?
Doubt it.
