The new Claw 8 EX AI+ from MSI It’s exactly the kind of handheld I want to place between my tired fingers. The Intel-based gaming PC has the ergonomics of he now-$790 steam cover and still promises performance and efficiency that AMD’s offerings lack. It’s a shame that it can cost a depressing amount of money.
This device has a lot of shoes to fill, considering the number of similar devices available today. But even in pre-production, when the hardware and software are not finalized, this PC, designed for the palm of your hand, excels in performance and comfort. It’s light enough at 1.7 pounds that I didn’t have to strain to hold it up. Its screen is large enough that you don’t have to squint at the characters on screen. It hits the target performance and frame rate, which finally gives me the feeling that handhelds are gaining ground.
Of course, for that privilege, the device can cost close to $1,500. MSI has yet to reveal specific pricing, but the Taiwan-based PC and peripherals company, along with Intel, have independently confirmed that we could be in for an expensive device. However, I haven’t had enough testing time to properly evaluate whether the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ is worth the money. I’m not sure any gaming handheld is worth that much.
Anyway, I also spent several hours with the four recently announced wearables that feature Intel’s Arc G3 Extreme chip. There’s the OneXPlayer 3 and the OneXPlayer X2, the latter with an optional keyboard accessory and removable controls like he now-$2,000 Lenovo legion go 2 (Are you sensing a theme here?). There is also the Acer Predator Atlas 8which includes an 8-inch screen similar to that of MSI’s Claw 8 Ex AI. Based solely on the controls of these pre-production units, I would still prefer the Claw.
I came to Computex 2026 with the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X taking up space in my bag. It also had a DBrand Killswitch case wrapped around it, making the device feel bulkier and heavier than normal. While the Claw 8 Ex weighs about 0.2 pounds more than the Ally, it’s slimmer thanks to the lack of full Xbox controller-like grips. MSI seems to have hit the nail on the head with ergonomics this time. My hands fit into each grip with ease, comforted by the textured plastic on either side.
While the sticks felt thinner than I normally prefer, they had a full range of motion. Additionally, they are Hall effect, a type of magnetic sensing technology that better resists the dreaded stick drift and false input problems. The Acer Predator Atlas is stuck with old-school potentiometer joysticks, which are inherently prone to potential breakage. MSI’s face buttons and trigger ergonomics also felt adequate for my claw size.
MSI’s new handheld looks like something made to be used outside of a dock or away from a power outlet. With this in mind, it is the performance that puts this device on top. I played several games including Force Horizon 6, Hogwarts Legacyand Chiaroscuro: Expedition 33all with a high TDP (thermal design power) of 35W, and each managed to exceed 60fps at high graphics settings, with the help of Intel’s XeSS enhancement.
Intel promises these new G3 Extreme BowAMD-based handhelds will outperform AMD’s Ryzen Z2 Extreme in several key aspects. In its own graphics, Intel promises you’ll see the new Claw 8 beat an Asus ROG Xbox Ally Some games, like Diablo IV Get almost 85% more performance, equivalent to 122 fps vs. 66 fps. There were titles that Claw could play at 60+ fps, while Ally got by at 30 fps.
This likely cannot be attributed solely to improved AI. On my flight to Taipei, Taiwan, I played a few hours of 007 First light on Xbox Ally On the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+, with high graphics settings and FSR enabled, I could play at 80fps. That meant running the game at the system’s full TDP without a power cable, but it was still a better experience on the Claw than it was on the Ally.
At 17W, the Claw 8 still outperforms the Xbox Ally Cyberpunk 2077. In other titles, such as crimson desert either Battlefield 6the Claw can perform up to 18% worse at those powers. Intel attributed this to driver and compatibility issues rather than hardware. It still shows that the experience you will have will depend on the games you are running.
Intel’s Arc G3 Extreme is essentially a reduction Panther Lake laptop chip with only two P (performance) cores. The other 12 cores are all E (efficiency) and LP-E (low power efficiency) cores. Change the importance to the GPU side of the chip. At power levels below 12W, Intel said the handheld doesn’t even enable P cores. That’s how GPU-dependent this system is, although one advantage of relying on efficiency cores is overall battery life. If you limit the surround power to 17W in “endurance” mode, Intel claims you can get more than five hours of battery life in a game like Forza Horizon 6.
This is where Intel tries to push its multi-frame generation technology. This technology is a form of frame interpolation that inserts AI-generated frames between two rendered frames, artificially increasing the frame rate. The chipmaker stressed that this is simply an option. Tom Petersen, Intel fellow and the company’s main spokesperson for most things gaming and computing, emphasized that it’s best to think of this technology as a “smoothing” of the frame rather than increasing actual performance.
I’ve said it before, but frame generation makes more sense on smaller screens with less powerful systems. Frame rendering produces strange visual artifacts, especially when the game is run at lower frame rates before interpolation is enabled. It’s harder to see those visual missteps on a smaller screen. Intel wants you to enable multi-frame rendering to help you overcome the battery life issue, although you’ll still need to access Intel’s graphics software (which will force you to use the touchscreen) to force multi-frame rendering to work in XeSS-compatible games.
I was looking forward to spending more time with the Claw 8 Ex AI+. Fortunately, the device is launching on June 25, so I won’t have to wait long to delve into it. A price of $1,500 is a tough deal to swallow, even despite rising RAM prices. To be worth it, the Claw has to become the only wearable device you need. Let’s hope so.
