The MSI Claw may not have dethroned the Steam Deck OLED but it remains an intriguing gaming handheld alternative. It’s the first of its kind to use an Intel chip rather than an AMD one and has plenty of promising hardware, the details of which we provide below.
The MSI Claw had the makings of one of the best PC gaming handhelds, though early reviews have suggested it struggles to compete with the like of the Steam Deck or even Asus ROG Ally. However, we’ve yet to complete our review and there’s still every chance MSI and Intel manage to eke plenty more performance out of the device.
MSI Claw release date
The MSI Claw release date was Friday, March 8. Not all SKUs launched immediately, though, with two other models arriving on Friday, March 15.
The first version of the MSI Claw to launch has a Core Ultra 7 CPU and 512GB of storage. Meanwhile, you can upgrade to 1TB of storage or save $50 by downscaling to a Core Ultra 5 processor the week after the initial launch.
MSI Claw price
The MSI Claw price starts at $699.99 for the Core Ultra 5 model with 512GB of storage. You’ll need to splash out $749.99 for the Core Ultra 7 model or $799.99 for the faster processor and double the storage capacity.
MSI Claw specs
MSI has released three Claw A1M models, one of which is an entry-level spec with an Intel Core Ultra 5 135H CPU with integrated Arc graphics. This model also features 16GB LPDDR5 RAM and a 512GB SSD.
| Claw A1M 052US | Claw A1M 051US/050US | |
| OS | Windows 11 | Windows 11 |
| CPU | Intel Core Ultra 5 135H | Intel Core Ultra 7 155H |
| GPU | Intel Arc graphics | Intel Arc graphics |
| Display | 7 Inch, FDH, IPS, 1920×1080, 500 nits | 7 Inch, FDH, IPS, 1920×1080, 500 nits |
| RAM | 16GB LPDDR5 | 16GB LPDDR5 |
| Storage | 512GB SSD | 512GB SSD (051US) 1TB (050US) |
The two remaining models adopt the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H APU, with the only variation between them being that one has 512GB of storage and the other has 1TB. All models will run on Windows 11.
The MSI Claw has a 7-inch FHD IPS screen, capable of 120Hz with VRR (variable refresh rate) included between 48-120Hz. The battery is a class-leading 53WHr, which equates to around three hours of gaming even at full power draw. With brightness being important for PC gaming handhelds to ensure the screen remains visible while out and about, the MSI Claw packs in 500 nits. That doesn’t quite rival the latest smartphones but is higher than typical gaming monitors, for instance.
It has two 2W speakers and a 3.5mm audio combo jack while also supporting Bluetooth audio peripherals. The power button has a built-in fingerprint sensor, just like the ROG Ally, and for additional storage, you can use a microSD card but there is no additional internal slot for extra SSDs.
If you want to check out our early impressions of the latest gaming handheld, read our MSI Claw preview from CES where we were mightily impressed by the portable, even if it may struggle to surpass the Steam Deck.