This Msi Handheld Could Replace My Gaming Laptop, And Not Just For Its More Portable Design

3 hours ago

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

The MSI Claw 8 AI+ is disposable done nan company's online shop and Amazon for $999.
It stands gangly arsenic a high-performing gaming handheld pinch a vibrant touchscreen and unsocial design.
However, its ample size won't beryllium for everyone, and location are a fewer package bugs.

When it launched successful 2017, nan Nintendo Switch had a monolithic effect connected nan gaming industry. It showed nan world that it was imaginable to bring AAA gaming to handheld devices, and since then, we've seen different companies travel suit pinch their ain portable consoles. MSI was 1 of them, but it had a rocky start. The Claw A1M saw mixed reviews upon its release, pinch ZDNET's Taylor Clemons criticizing its artillery life and graphics capabilities.

Also: Snag nan HP Victus 15 laptop for astir 75% disconnected acknowledgment to this Walmart deal

The bully news is that it seems MSI took nan feedback earnestly erstwhile processing its caller model, nan Claw 8 AI+. This handheld addresses galore of nan issues that plagued nan erstwhile generation, but it's not rather perfect. Let's return a look.

An updated (and unique) design

MSI made respective absorbing decisions erstwhile upgrading nan console's design. It's akin successful size to nan Steam Deck, measuring 11.77 x 4.96 x 0.94 inches, but it's besides heavier astatine 1.75 pounds. Because of this bulk, walking pinch nan handheld tin beryllium tricky, and users pinch mini hands mightiness find it difficult to hold. I, however, recovered nan Claw 8 to beryllium rather comfortable.

There is 1 area wherever MSI's handheld thumps nan Steam Deck hands-down: nan display. It houses an eight-inch FHD+ (1,920 x 1,200 pixels) touchscreen moving astatine a 120Hz refresh rate. Everything connected this show looks great, and I enjoyed nan soft on-screen animations.

Many gaming consoles opt for an all-black colour scheme, but nan Claw 8 AI+ stands retired by implementing "Sandstone" connected nan look plate, creating a two-tone look. It gives nan instrumentality a unsocial look among a oversea of similar-looking hardware. But I recovered nan "metallic beige" a unusual choice; it clashes pinch nan RGB lights.

Also: I urge this Windows laptop to creatives and professionals - moreover if it's meant for gamers

MSI made different outer adjustments, arsenic well. It boasts a "Cooler Boost HyperFlow" strategy to support soul temperatures low. Cool aerial is directed to captious areas, while lukewarm aerial is expelled done nan apical vents. I highly admit nan hall-effect analog sticks. These guarantee nan controls execute good and support accuracy without nan imaginable consequence of instrumentality drift. Around nan backmost are a mates of other buttons that tin beryllium hotkeyed to circumstantial actions.

Gaming performance: on-point

Speaking of performance, MSI's Claw 8 AI+ did very good successful my tests. Under nan hood of my reappraisal portion was an Intel Core Ultra 7 258B processor, an integrated Intel Arc 140 V graphics card, and 32GB of RAM.

I played aged and caller games, and astir each title ran great. There weren't immoderate framework complaint drops, stuttering, aliases exceptionally agelong load times -- isolated from for one. I encountered each of those problems successful "Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth". To beryllium fair, that game, erstwhile it was first released, was unoptimized. It didn't tally very good and nan Claw 8 AI+ wan't nan only handheld having a reliable clip supporting it astatine nan time. Rest assured that, isolated from nan occasional outlier, astir games will execute good connected MSI's device.

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On nan apical of nan gadget are a brace of USB-C ports that tin beryllium utilized to link nan Claw 8 to an outer monitor, opening up further usability scenarios. For one, nan Intel hardware connected committee allows for a laptop-like experience.

Little Tokyo photograph taken connected Moto G

It performs decently successful this regard; I encountered nary important slowdown while moving 40 browser tabs and multitasking pinch respective apps. But without a dedicated GPU, MSI's instrumentality falls short of your mean gaming PC. If I had to quantify it, this handheld performs likewise to a low-cost gaming PC for illustration Lenovo's LOQ Tower 17IRR9.

Video games whitethorn beryllium fine, but Windows 11 is different story. It seems nan OS wasn't meant to beryllium condensed to fresh onto a gaming handheld because I ran into bugs. One time, aft updating nan software, nan in-game controls were disabled. I couldn't move my characters, only nan cursor. Fortunately, a speedy reboot solved nan problem. Further optimization pinch Windows will hopefully amended nan experience.

To extremity connected a precocious note, I want to outcry retired Claw 8's coagulated runtime. The institution claims you tin crippled connected its handheld for 4 hours consecutive earlier needing a recharge. I really managed to get nan artillery to past 4.5 hours. For nan continuous video playback test, nan console ran for astir 13 hours consecutive earlier tapping out. That's immoderate of nan longest tally times for immoderate handheld we've tested.

ZDNET's buying advice

The MSI Claw 8 AI+ is disposable for preorder correct now. It has really already launched, but according to a institution representative, preorder request was truthful precocious that nan developer paused it. At $999, this handheld is much costly than moreover nan OLED Steam Deck, but fixed its top-notch performance, artillery life, and eight-inch display, nan MSI Claw 8 makes itself worthy nan price.