This handheld Switch 2 alternative blew me away – MSI's Claw 8 AI+ is ace

The market for PC gaming handhelds is no longer what it was. From the simple days of Steam Deck dominance, we're now living in a time of options, and there are more coming out every month. When MSI first entered the fray with the Claw 7, it didn't knock it out of the park, but now its second tilt is here, and the improvement is stark.

The Claw 8 AI+ has that added artificial intelligence (AI) label to loudly point at its powerful new Intel Core Ultra 258V processor, but it also sports a bigger display. That new chip makes for blisteringly impressive performance, which makes the Claw 8 an immediate contender if you've got the budget and want the best you can get.

How much does MSI's Claw 8 AI+ cost?

The Claw 8 AI+ is available now for £899 in the UK and $899 in the US – although you may find that it's not the easiest to find in stock. That makes it probably the most expensive mainstream option in the PC gaming handheld market, and pricier than the refreshed Asus Rog Ally X.

It's also substantially more than a Steam Deck OLED model, albeit with specs that outperform Valve's older hardware handily. So, you'd be buying a Claw 8 with more confidence in it lasting a fair few years.

Is the MSI Claw 8 well made?

The current suite of PC gaming handheld designs isn't exactly full of revolutionary differences between brands. Broadly, they all look like they've taken inspiration from the same source (the Nintendo Switch, principally). So, the MSI Claw 8 AI+ isn't all too bold a departure.

It has an expansive eight-inch screen in the middle of its body, flanked by controller grips offering triggers, hall-effect thumbsticks and buttons. On each side of the display, near its top, there are a couple of function buttons for shortcuts like opening menus or the MSI gaming app.

The rear of the portable hides a couple more grip buttons for extra control options, and the whole thing sits at 126mm thick, which is far from wafer thin. It also weighs 795g, which is quite a lot more than the Claw 7. That said, I didn't find it uncomfortable to hold as compared to a Steam Deck, which is a bit thinner.

That display is also a touch screen, which is pretty much essential since this is a machine that runs Windows. Being able to tap on icons, use a touch keyboard to type things out, and generally rely on touch-based input when needed, is really helpful.

The Claw 8's design doesn't have a lot of room to express itself, but its choice of two tones, one a sort of bronze metallic (dubbed 'sandstorm'), the other black, does look solid. I might prefer it purely in a simple black, but I also appreciate that MSI needs to differentiate it visually in some way from competitors.

One small duff note is that it doesn't feel quite as premium as its price tag suggests – there's something slightly plasticky to it, which doubtless plays into keeping its weight down, but does slightly harm its high-end credentials.

What's the AI+ spec of the MSI Claw 8?

There's one big spec bump that makes the Claw 8 really stand out from the competition, and that's the inclusion of an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V processor to power the whole kit and caboodle. It's a cutting-edge chip, and does indeed bring some seriously impressive performance benefits, as I'll get to later.

Beyond that, the specs don't really get any less impressive. The IPS LCD display comes in at a resolution of 1920 x 1200, with a 120Hz variable refresh rate for those games you can get cranking at higher frame rates. While 500 nits of brightness isn't mind-blowing, it makes the handheld very playable in normal lighting conditions.

The Claw 8 comes with 32GB of LPDDR5 RAM, which is a heap for a handheld of this sort, along with 1TB of SSD storage – plus the option of using its microSD card slot for further expansion.

Impressively, none of this has come at the expense of battery capacity, with an 80Wh battery that really stretches to impressive territory when you get going.

It comes with a 65W charger to keep it juiced up, although one small disappointment is that it doesn't get packaged with a case. This would go a long way since it's quite a big handheld and, at this price, I think it's an extra that MSI should probably be including as standard.

You also get two Thunderbolt 4 ports, which makes it easy to connect the Claw 8 to an external display or other accessories if desired. The power button has a fingerprint reader, too, for some convenient security.

On the software side, this is a Windows 11 (and Copilot+) machine, which isn't necessarily designed for this sort of interface – but does ensure a hugely wide range of compatibility.

MSI has a sort of hub app built into the device that you can access using a dedicated button, which simplifies its interface and makes it easy to jump into recent games.

Is the MSI Claw 8 AI+ the best handheld performer?

Powering up the MSI Claw 8 AI+ for the first time, you will fairly immediately bump into the user experience foible that is Windows 11 on a smaller touchscreen.

It's not insurmountable by any means, but having a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse to hand for that initial setup and the flurry of game downloads that you'll doubtless need to set running is recommended.

From there, all that remains is to actually start gaming, and it's in this arena that the Claw 8 starts to pull away from its competition. Simply put, Intel's latest chip makes the machine a real powerhouse for its size.

It can power some really impressive benchmarking figures, but also gets great real-life performance while you're gaming. Check out our sister site Tom's Guide's review if you're interested in some more detailed breakdowns of these statistics.

I loaded up a range of titles, from newer titles that haven't necessarily been targeted at handhelds (like Avowed), some flashy options that very much have been scaled properly (like Kingdom Come: Deliverance II), and some older games that come from a simpler time graphically (like Portal). In all cases, I was impressed by what I found.

You can't escape the fact that, on integrated graphics, loading up the latest game on maximum settings isn't always an approach that brings great results.

However, with some judicious tweaking and a bit of research into games that have been nicely optimised, you can get terrific performance. If you're happy to game at 30fps, too, you'll find that a huge range of titles are doable.

That said, a further wrinkle is provided by the fact that the Claw 8 can be tweaked to run at a few different power levels, limiting its hardware to stretch its battery life further.

You can leave on a setting that lets the machine decide which is best under its own steam, which I tended to do, but those who like to get a bit more technical can swap between 8W, 17W and 30W, as well as using some battery mode toggles, to see how they fare.

Generally speaking, the Asus ROG Ally X is the closest competitor you can find in terms of performance and power, although I found that the Claw 8 managed to edge most contests.

Given the MSI has a bigger screen, the difference might come down to a matter of taste, but it still leaves MSI able to boast that it has about as potent a PC gaming handheld as you can get right now.

Battery life is also excellent in its context. Cranking things up power-wise and going for as demanding a game as you can possibly find, you'll get at least a couple of hours from the machine. With more modest titles and requirements that can easily nearly double, so those looking at an indie back catalogue should be heartened.

When gaming portables kick into high gear, cooling can be a concern, but MSI has continued the good work it started with the Claw 7. The Claw 8 is impressively cool and quiet, and never felt much more than warm in my testing. In a world where some other options can feel worryingly hot at times, that's a really good place to be.

MSI Claw 8 AI+ review: Verdict

The market for PC gaming handhelds is getting frighteningly competitive – but MSI is back with a radically improved Claw that only heightens that sense.

This is a perfect new option for those seeking out a handheld that brings the latest and greatest in integrated graphical tech, and who don't mind paying a premium for that access.

It's possible that, in a year's time, there will be updated versions of competitors to muddy the waters, but right now the Claw 8 AI+ stands alone and is the better for it.

If you've got the cash and want a great gaming handheld with the capacity to play almost any game you throw at it in some capacity, you'll find it admirably capable.

Also consider

There's a reason it's the biggest name in the PC portable space – the Steam Deck really did kick the whole craze off thanks to its genuinely decent power capabilities. The subsequent OLED version remains brilliant, and while its Linux basis means more limited compatibility, you can still play countless games happily (for much less than the cost of a Claw 8).

Alternatively, if you know that you want something with a more recent chipset that can stretch further in performance terms, the ROG Ally X that I've mentioned a few times is a great option. It's a little smaller and a little more affordable, but still very premium.