A contact late and bit too dear

One among my favourite PC developments has been the explosion of . Even after large names like ASUS and Lenovo entered the market final 12 months with the and , extra producers proceed to hitch the fray. However with the Claw A1M, MSI is taking the street much less traveled by choosing an Intel chip as an alternative of one thing from AMD. And that has made all of the distinction, even when a lot of these adjustments usually are not for the higher.

Design and show – Easy however efficient

Whereas MSI could have zagged with the Claw’s processor, its design is extremely acquainted. That’s as a result of apart from being black as an alternative of white, it virtually seems to be like a carbon copy of the ROG Ally. That mentioned, a number of delicate adjustments have a little bit of an impression. The Claw’s grips are extra pronounced, so it’s extra snug to carry, whereas its rear paddles are smaller and positioned a bit additional down so there’s much less of an opportunity you press them by chance.

MSI additionally opted for Corridor impact joysticks, so they’re a contact extra exact and may put on higher over time. Nevertheless, the springs inside are relatively gentle, so that they don’t really feel fairly as tight as I sometimes desire. Sadly, whereas its triggers are good, the Claw’s bumpers are a bit too spongy.

In the meantime, almost the whole rear panel on the Claw is vented to supply ample room for cooling. And alongside the highest there’s a built-in microSD card reader, 3.5mm audio jack, a quantity rocker and a single USB-C port with assist for Thunderbolt 4. That final one is a really good inclusion because it’s quick sufficient to hook up peripherals like an exterior GPU dock. I simply want there have been two of them so I had a spare slot for equipment.

After all, within the center there’s a 7-inch 1080p IPS LCD show. It’s comparatively colourful and with a examined brightness of round 450 nits, it’s straightforward to view even in sunnier rooms (although direct daylight continues to be a problem). Nevertheless, apart from a 120Hz refresh price, there’s not a lot else happening. There’s no variable refresh price to assist scale back tearing in additional trendy video games and it could’t match the dimensions or extra saturated hues of the Legion Go’s 8.8-inch OLED panel. And whereas this isn’t actually a design consideration, with the Claw priced at $750, I want MSI shipped it with an included case like Lenovo does with the Legion.

Efficiency – Maintaining, however simply barely

Right here’s the place issues get a bit difficult, as a result of not less than on paper, the Claw is fairly well-equipped. Our evaluate unit options an Intel Core Extremely 7 155H CPU with Arc graphics, 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. There may be additionally a inexpensive mannequin with an Intel Core Extremely 5 135H chip and a 512GB SSD. Sadly, the Claw’s real-world efficiency lags behind MSI’s claims and rival handhelds. Again at CES 2024, MSI touted that the Claw can be 20 to 25 p.c quicker than AMD-based alternate options. However it doesn’t matter what I do or how a lot time I spend tweaking settings, I merely can’t produce numbers anyplace in that ballpark.

In Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 1280 x 720, excessive graphics and in Balanced Mode (30 watts), the Claw hit 52 fps, which is barely behind the 54 fps I bought from the ROG Ally at simply 15 watts. To make issues a bit worse, these numbers didn’t enhance a lot after I switched to the Claw’s 35-watt Excessive Efficiency setting, which solely bumped the framerate as much as 59 fps in comparison with 60 fps for the Ally when set to 25 watts. So regardless of operating at the next TDP (complete system energy), the Claw is simply barely maintaining.

It’s an identical story in different titles too. In Cyberpunk 2077 at 720p on medium graphics, the Claw hit 50 fps in Balanced mode, which is identical because the Ally. Lastly, in Returnal at 720p on medium, it was basically a tie once more with the Claw hitting 32 fps versus 33 fps for the Ally. Total, the Claw’s efficiency isn’t dangerous, but it surely’s not as prodigious as MSI promised.

The underlying challenge appears to be the Claw’s optimization and graphics drivers. I’ve been utilizing the Claw for a couple of month, and in that point it’s gotten a ton of updates together with two or three BIOS flashes and a seemingly infinite variety of new graphics drivers. There was even that boosted efficiency by as a lot as 30 p.c in some titles. So simply think about how tough efficiency was at launch earlier this spring.

In some respects, this stage of assist is reassuring as a result of it reveals Intel’s dedication to bettering the graphics on its newest chips. That mentioned, the Claw has been available on the market since as early as April relying available on the market, so it clearly wasn’t prepared at launch and its efficiency continues to be a piece in progress.

Battery life – Nothing particular

With a 53Wh cell, there was hope the Claw may present considerably longer runtimes than the Ally and its smaller 40Wh energy pack. However due to the Claw’s larger TDP, the distinction in real-world longevity isn’t fairly as pronounced. After I performed Diablo IV on medium graphics, the Claw lasted an hour and 43 minutes, which is 12 minutes higher than the Ally’s time of 1:31, however greater than 20 minutes lower than the Steam Deck’s mark of two:07.

Software program – Clunky at finest

One of many largest points with Home windows-based handhelds is that whereas they’re nice for gaming, doing the rest with out an exterior mouse or keyboard could be a chore. Home windows 11 usually works as you’d anticipate, however the MSI Middle app feels a lot much less polished. Just like ASUS’ Armoury Crate, MSI Middle is supposed to be a one-stop store for launching video games, tweaking settings and downloading updates. And whereas it really works, it simply feels clunky. The app usually stutters if you open it and I bumped into a few cases when patches stalled whereas attempting to replace software program.

Wrap-up

Finally, timing stands out as the Claw’s largest enemy. If it had come out final 12 months when the ROG Ally and Legion Go hit the market, the Claw could have been a extra attention-grabbing rival. However ASUS is about to launch a successor to the Ally – – subsequent month with a totally redesigned chassis, 24GB of RAM and an enormous 80Wh battery. That leaves the Claw in a very tight spot. And our top-spec evaluate unit , which is (albeit with half the storage) and has principally the identical efficiency and an virtually similar design.

In the meantime, due to current worth cuts, the Claw can also be dearer than the , however doesn’t have the OLED display screen, kickstand and removable controllers present in Lenovo’s handheld. This doesn’t even consider Intel’s drivers, which clearly weren’t prepared at launch and even now after a number of updates, don’t provide a big benefit in efficiency. However the Claw’s largest opponent could also be MSI itself, as a result of whereas we’re nonetheless ready on an official launch date, the corporate has already introduced a successor within the The Claw isn’t a foul handheld gaming PC; it simply arrived too late and with out the tuning it wanted.