MSI Claw 8 AI+ review - a high-end gaming handheld at a high-end price point

Verdict

Offering great performance, a stunning screen, and amazing battery life all wrapped up into an ergonomic and comfortable chassis, the MSI Claw 8 AI+ is an impressive gaming handheld. However, all of this comes at a high-end price point, making it hard to justify the cost over picking up something like the Asus ROG Ally X or Steam Deck OLED.

Pros

• Amazing battery life
• Stunning screen despite not being OLED
• Great performance on indies and triple-A titles alike

Cons

• Can get quite loud when playing demanding games
• Expensive
• Extremely laggy MSI Claw Center interface

There is a range of gaming handhelds on the market, and with a whole load more announced and shown off at CES 2025 earlier this year, the scene is getting quite competitive. The latest addition is the MSI Claw 8 AI+, a new iteration of the original MSI Claw A1M, which launched last year to an overwhelmingly negative reception.

This new version of the MSI Claw features a much better battery life, more RAM, and a powerful Intel Lunar Lake CPU capable of running triple-A titles. You also get the benefits of a beautiful screen wrapped up in a comfortable chassis. The main downside of the MSI Claw 8 AI+ is the price, setting you back around $200 or more when compared to alternative gaming handhelds on the market. Still, the big question is how it compares to the top picks from our guides to the best handheld consoles and the best Steam Deck alternatives. So, let's get into it, shall we?

Price and availability

The MSI Claw 8 AI+ currently sits at $999 / £899. Releasing back in December 2024 in the US and then January 2025 in the rest of the world, you can now pick up the gaming handheld wherever you are. There's only one model available of the MSI Claw 8 AI+, which features a 1TB hard drive.

You can pick up the device from a range of retailers, including Best Buy in the US and Currys in the UK. Upon release, stock was in pretty short supply, with the device being marked as sold out often for the first month, but it has since evened out, and you shouldn't have too much of a problem getting your hands on one.

Specs

Here are the MSI Claw 8 AI+'s specs:

While most gaming handhelds contain the AMD Ryzen Z1 edition chips, MSI took its latest handheld in a different direction with a powerful Intel processor with built-in Intel Arc graphics. Both of these processors are very similar in power, meaning you're not sacrificing performance by opting for the MSI Claw 8 AI+ over an alternative device on the market.

A big standout feature of the MSI Claw 8 AI+ is the 32GB of RAM. The original MSI Claw A1M housed 16GB of RAM with an option to upgrade to 32GB if required. Many gaming handheld users have found that 16GB of RAM doesn't really suffice, as it doesn't allow you to take full advantage of the processing power of the CPUs in these devices. The upgrade to 32GB here is a fantastic leap.

Another major difference you'll notice in the specs is the significantly increased battery capacity. The only other gaming handheld device on the market that has an 80 Whr battery is the Asus ROG Ally X, with all of the other alternatives clocking in at significantly less, including both the Steam Deck OLED and the Lenovo Legion Go.

Performance and gaming

While gaming handhelds have only improved in power since their revival with the Steam Deck, they're still not as powerful as a gaming PC without adding an external GPU. However, the MSI Claw 8 AI+ comes pretty close.

You definitely can run triple-A titles; however, they won't be running with the highest possible graphics. In my opinion, settling for medium graphics to achieve playable frame rates on a gaming handheld with such a small screen anyway isn't a bad exchange.

I played a variety of games, from Street Fighter 6, an intense and demanding game, to Limbo, an older indie hit that doesn't require a lot of power. Both ran completely fine, and while I did have to turn down the settings when running Street Fighter 6, this wasn't the end of the world.

When the MSI Claw 8 AI+ was under more strain, the device would, of course, require more cooling. While the cooling system worked great, preventing the handheld from getting too hot, it would get quite loud in the process. This was fine when at home, but I would be a bit conscious about it disturbing people when using the device out and about.

As stated earlier, you also get access to the MSI Claw Center, a built-in interface that you can access with the allocated button on the left-hand side of the device. I absolutely hated having to use this software, which you need to boot into to adjust the performance settings, because it was so unbelievably laggy. I avoided using it other than when I had to.

Of course, having access to Windows means you can play titles from a range of game libraries instead of being limited to Steam, like the Steam Deck. Whether I was playing through the EA launcher, the Epic Games Store, or, of course, some of the best Steam Deck games, all games installed and ran perfectly fine.

Features

You can only pick up the MSI Claw 8 AI+ with a 1TB SSD, which, despite sounding like plenty of space, I found easy to burn through with how large some game files can be. It's worth noting that the device also has a microSD card slot, so you can easily add and access more storage.

You'll find that the MSI Claw 8 AI+ has two Thunderbolt ports, which you can use for charging and as a DisplayPort if you're hoping to dock your device. The MSI Claw 8 AI+'s power button also doubles as a fingerprint scanner for an extra level of security.

Featuring Wi-Fi 7, the MSI Claw 8 AI+ allows for faster downloads and a more stable wireless connection, which is always great for online play. You also get the benefit of Bluetooth, which is perfect for those who are planning to use wireless peripherals, especially considering you don't have too many ports to take advantage of.

Design

The MSI Claw 8 AI+ has an amazing ergonomic design, making it comfortable to hold for long periods of time. I often find some gaming handhelds feel almost too big, especially as my hands are quite small, but this isn't the case with the Claw, despite its large size.

Instead of the standard black from the previous iteration of the MSI Claw, as well as most other gaming handhelds, the MSI Claw 8 AI+ is actually more of a toned-down gold color. While this colorway sets it apart, I'm not a massive fan, but this is down to personal preference, and you might like the design.

The layout is similar to an Xbox controller, with asymmetrical joysticks and A, B, X, and Y buttons. As featured on most gaming handhelds, the MSI Claw 8 AI+ features some RGB around the joysticks to give it that little bit of extra flair, which is a nice touch.

You get two extra buttons on the back of the device labeled M1 and M2, which you can assign to any input you like. They're easy to access and positioned in a way that is completely natural for you to press without having to adjust your grip, which is great.

One of the best design features on the MSI Claw 8 AI+ is the vents, which you can find along the back and on top of the handheld. While this may feel like overkill when compared to those on other gaming handhelds, it keeps the device extremely cool even when playing some of the more demanding titles, even if they get a little loud on occasion.

Display

Despite not being OLED, the display on the MSI Claw 8 AI+ is stunning, with its bright and vivid colors bringing all the games I tested to life. While you don't get true blacks, the screen is still gorgeous, making for a great experience no matter whether you're gaming or watching some video content.

Measuring in at eight inches, the display is quite big and feels even bigger thanks to the extremely thin bezels around the edge of the device. The Steam Deck OLED screen comes in at 7.4 inches; however, the MSI Claw 8 AI+ display feels significantly larger thanks to the design around the screen.

Of course, the MSI Claw 8 AI+ features a touchscreen, which was super responsive during my testing period. Never did I find the display lagging or encounter any issues; however, I also didn't find myself using it too often anyway. It's nice to have, but for the most part, I played using the analog sticks.

This version of the MSI Claw has a 120Hz refresh rate screen, which is perfect for titles where frames really matter, like some of the picks from our guide to the best FPS games. You also get to take advantage of a 500 nits screen, which feels extremely bright in a range of different environments and is great for those who are planning to use their gaming handheld on the go.

Battery

At 80 Whr, the battery capacity in the MSI Claw 8 AI+ is top of the line, matched only by the Asus ROG Ally X. The MSI website states that you get four hours of playtime out of the device when fully charged; however, this is entirely dependent on what type of game you're playing and how much power is required.

When playing less intensive indie titles like Undertale with the screen brightness turned down, I found that I could easily get up to eight hours out of the device. However, when booting into triple-A titles like Starfield on high settings, the battery depleted significantly faster, lasting me closer to two and a half hours.

As with most gaming handhelds, you have a level of control over the power drain here by selecting which mode you want the device to run in. The MSI Claw 8 AI+ gives you the option to choose between Light and Performance mode in the MSI Claw Center. Light mode turns off things like the RGB lighting and reduces screen brightness to allow for a longer battery life, but it also means you won't get as much power out of the device.

On the other end of the spectrum is Performance mode, which will allow you to play games at higher settings but, in turn, will deplete the battery much quicker. You can opt to switch on the AI Engine to select which mode you want to run in automatically based on what game you're playing and your battery level, and it does a pretty good job of judging for itself which mode to go with.

Should you buy the MSI Claw 8 AI+?

Overall, the MSI Claw 8 AI+ is an excellent device, providing you with exceptional battery life, a beautiful display, and great performance even when playing AAA games. This is all wrapped up in an ergonomic chassis, which is comfortable to hold even during long gaming sessions.

However, the downside here is that this gaming handheld is quite pricey. Coming in at $899 / £899, the MSI Claw 8 AI+ is one of the highest-priced gaming handhelds on the market, making it hard to justify the purchase. The Asus ROG Ally X, which has the same battery capacity and a processor capable of very similar performance, costs $200 / £300 less at $699 / £599.

Alternatives

If you're not sold on the MSI Claw 8 AI+, then here is a range of other gaming handhelds you can consider to satisfy your portable gaming needs.

Asus ROG Ally X

The Asus ROG Ally X is the only other gaming handheld on the market right now that also features an 80 WHr battery capacity, allowing you to get hours of game time out of your device rather than just minutes. You get the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme chip, which provides similar performance to the Intel CPU featured in the MSI Claw 8 AI+. The Asus ROG Ally X will set you back just $699 / £599. For more on this one, see our Asus ROG Ally X review.

Steam Deck OLED

While locked to SteamOS, the Steam Deck OLED is typically considered the best gaming handheld to pick up right now. It's significantly more budget-friendly than alternatives, coming in at just $539 / £479. You still get great performance and the ability to play AAA titles on an OLED screen; however, the battery life and RAM contents of the device aren't great. Be sure to check out our Steam Deck OLED review for the full lowdown.

There you have it, our MSI Claw 8 AI+ review. For more handheld gaming goodness, be sure to check out our Nintendo Switch 2 hands-on preview, as well as our Nintendo Switch 2 hub. Or, if you're waiting on the next generation of handheld PCs, see our Lenovo Legion Go 2 and Steam Deck 2 guides.