MSI Claw review: An underperforming and overpriced PC gaming handheld

Note: This review was first published on 27 June 2024.

One of the recent gaming trends that I’ve been most excited about is the emergence of PC gaming handhelds, such as the Steam Deck, ROG Ally and Legion Go – just to name a few from the big brands. Even smaller brands like Aya and GPD are launching their own devices too. With PlayStation porting some of its best games to PC, there’s never been a better time to be a PC gamer!

Now, MSI has thrown its hat into the ring with its first handheld – the Claw. Interestingly, rather than going with an AMD platform like the Ryzen Z1 Extreme used by ROG and Legion and most other contemporary PC gaming handhelds, the company has picked Intel’s Core Ultra 7 (Meteor Lake). This choice sets it apart from the rest of the competition, but as I discovered during my time with it, it’s not always for the better.

Where have I seen this handheld before?

MSI’s design approach is much more conventional though, with the Claw looking almost like a black version of the ROG Ally, but there are some subtle differences that I appreciated. With the Claw, I find the grip to be more pronounced and makes it more comfortable to hold. The rear paddles are smaller and positioned lower too, which I feel helps to reduce accidental presses.

The Hall effect joysticks on the Claw are a nice touch – they’re precise and should be more durable but it’s hard to tell since I only had a couple of weeks with the device. However, the light springs don’t provide the firm resistance that I prefer and while the triggers feel good, the bumpers are a bit too spongy for my taste.

Flipping the Claw to the back and we can see the back panel is almost entirely vented to help keep things cool, which is good design on MSI’s part. The Claw also comes with a microSD card reader, a 3.5mm audio jack, volume rocker and a single USB-C port that supports Thunderbolt 4. Thunderbolt 4 is great because it allows the connecting of peripherals like an external GPU, for instance. Again, these are also standard ports found on the ROG Ally and I do wish both handhelds come with an additional USB-C port (like the excellent Legion Go) just to give users extra flexibility.  

Back to the front, and I found the 7-inch 1080p IPS LCD display is decent at best. While it displays good colours, has a 120Hz refresh rate and is bright enough for indoor gaming, my opinion is that the IPS panels on the ROG Ally and Legion Go are superior – with better colour saturations, deeper blacks and in the case of the Legion Go, a larger display. To be fair, I’m not saying the MSI Claw’s display is bad, but comparisons with the earlier handhelds are unavoidable and as the latest comer to the category, it does feel underwhelming.

Let's play some games

On paper, the Claw’s specs look promising. My review unit came with an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H CPU with integrated Arc graphics, 16GB of memory, and 1TB of SSD storage. This retails for S$1,239. However, when playing games on it, the Claw’s performance didn’t quite live up to expectations.

For instance, in Horizon Zero Dawn at 1080p and medium graphics settings, the Claw managed just 34fps in Performance Mode. The ROG Ally scored 42fps in the same game and settings. Turning on Intel’s upscaling tech XeSS helps a little though, with the handheld seeing a performance lift to 41fps. Comparatively, with AMD’s upscaling tech FSR activated Horizon Zero Dawn achieved 65fps on the ROG Ally.

I experienced similar results in other games too. In Cyberpunk 2077 at 1080p on medium graphics settings and with XeSS turned on (and FSR on the ROG handheld), the Claw hit 34fps while the Ally scored 50fps. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider though, the Claw matched the Ally with both scoring 48fps. These games will undoubtedly run faster at 720p, but that seems like a waste of the panel’s full potential. It’s your choice, I suppose.

One consistent pattern I noticed is how the Claw could perform almost on par with the ROG Ally on (much) older games like Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Newer and perhaps more recent games like Cyberpunk 2077 would see the Claw struggling to catch up. A significant issue seems to be the Claw’s Intel Arc graphics drivers, which is notorious for being slow in optimising game performance. One major BIOS update earlier this month supposedly boosts some games by up to 30 percent, MSI claims – although I did not get the chance to test this out as the handheld was already returned by then. If anything, it does make the Claw feel like a work in progress and I can’t help but wonder if MSI’s decision not to go with an AMD platform was an unwise choice.

Battery life is not exceptional either. In PCMark’s battery life gaming test, the Claw lasted 85 minutes. The ROG Ally scored 91 and the Legion Go 100 minutes. But here’s the twist: the Claw comes with a larger 53Wh battery than the Ally’s 40Wh. So not only is the MSI Claw running games slower than its competition, but it is also using more power to run them as well. It’s a real bummer.

Then there’s the MSI Center app, which is supposed to streamline game launching, settings tweaks, and updates, but feels clunky when in use – why is the option to remappable controls so difficult to get to? It also often stutters and occasionally stalls during updates, which is just oh so frustrating.

Just wait for the Claw 8 AI+ gaming handheld

Timing may be the MSI Claw’s biggest hurdle. If it had come out alongside the ROG Ally and Legion Go, it would have been an interesting Intel alternative. As it is, it’s hard to recommend the Claw at its current S$1,239 price tag. More so with ASUS set to release the Ally X next month, featuring a redesigned chassis, 24GB of RAM, an 80Wh battery, and all at a cheaper S$1,199. The Claw faces stiff competition and I’m surprised MSI has not reacted quicker to make its handheld be more competitive at retail – its launch price was already pricier than the ROG Ally (S$999) and the Legion Go (S$1,151) to begin with.

There’s also a more affordable Claw version at S$949 with a slower Intel Core Ultra 5 135H and smaller 512GB SSD, but performance for this Claw can be expected to be worse. Moreover, MSI has already announced the Claw 8 AI+, which will be powered by Intel’s new Lunar Lake chip, and this has cast a shadow over the current Claw.

That said, the MSI Claw isn’t a bad handheld, it just needs a good price correction that better reflects its performance when compared to the competition out there. It’s impossible for it to be the “best performing” gaming handheld now, but at least there’s an opportunity for the Claw to be a “best” as far as value is concerned.

Your move, MSI.

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