MSI, a leading brand in gaming, content creation, and business and productivity laptops, is proud to announce that its gaming handheld, Claw, has achieved a significant boost in gaming performance, with an increase of up to 150% through new BIOS and GPU drivers. Moreover, the updated BIOS and GPU drivers enable the Claw to smoothly play the top 100 popular games on the Steam platform, providing an excellent mobile gaming experience.

The new E1T41IMS.106 BIOS (referred to as 106) and 31.0.101.5445 GPU driver (referred to as 5445) for the MSI Claw have significantly enhanced gaming performance according to internal tests. For instance, the performance of the well-known open-world horror game "7 Days to Die" increased by up to 150%. Other popular games such as "Monster Hunter World" and "Cyberpunk 2077" also saw performance improvements of over 50% with the new BIOS and GPU drivers, providing a smoother gaming experience.

MSI's new handheld gaming PC—Claw—has (so far) experienced a scattershot global launch and review program. Initial impressions from embargo-busting Chinese evaluators indicated that the Intel Core Ultra "Meteor Lake" APU-based devices struggled to keep up with 2023's lineup of AMD-powered handhelds—namely the ASUS ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go. YouTube tech channel, Retro Tech Dad, has acquired two MSI Claw SKUs for testing purposes—the more expensive model sports an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor, while the basic variant makes do with a Core Ultra 5 135H. The plucky new-ish competitors—updated with freshly-released drivers—were pitched against both ASUS ROG Ally variants (Ryzen Z1 Extreme and Z1 vanilla), but the main takeaway from Retro Tech Dad's testing activities is the higher-end Claw's apparent inability to outpace its weaker sibling.

Once again, we see these Intel "Meteor Lake" mobile chips falling behind AMD's popular Ryzen Z1 Extreme APU—the standard Ryzen Z1 seems to be a closer rival. VideoCardz has analyzed Retro Tech Dad's initial findings—these figures: "suggests that the Core Ultra 5 135H performs better than the Core Ultra 7 155H in low-TDP settings. However, overall, both APUs provide nearly identical performance." It is worth watching Retro Tech Dad's full video coverage—he posits that Intel's silicon is capable of trading blows with equivalent AMD parts, but current drivers could be holding back this unrealized potential. The cheapest Claw SKU seems to be the de facto choice (for Team Blue enthusiasts), given its demonstrated ability to keep up with higher-priced options within MSI's handheld family.

MSI's official North American online store has started to sell their brand-new Claw A1M handheld portable gaming PC—earlier in the week media outlets spotted a premature Newegg store listing, perhaps foreshadowing a widespread US launch on March 8 (today). MSI appears to be staggering the Claw's rollout across the global markets—late last month, German customers were treated to "early" pre-order access thanks to de-store.msi.com listing the basic model (Handheld CLAW A1M-036), with units declared as being "in stock." US customers are similarly limited to the entry level "052US" SKU—the region's MSI store official launch day price sits at $699.00. This model sports an Intel Core 5 135H "Meteor Lake" processor, and 512 GB of internal storage.

Newegg has relisted the three MSI Claw A1M variants, albeit with a revised release date of March 15—interested parties can pre-order the Core Ultra 7 + 1 TB SSD version for $799, or MSI's middle-of-the-pack Core Ultra 7 + 512 GB model for $749. Newegg's product page for the basic Core Ultra 5 + 512 GB SSD configuration bears the same $699 price tag as seen on MSI's official store listing. We are not entirely sure whether Western embargoes have been lifted to coincide with today's North American launch—a trickle out of English language evaluations could occur next week. Chinese review outlets have been experimenting with press samples since mid-February.

MSI Claw A1M, the company's ambitious attempt at a handheld gaming console based on the Intel Core Ultra "Meteor Lake" processor, instead of AMD Ryzen Z1 "Zen 4," goes on sale from March 8, 2024. This is according to a now-retracted Newegg store listing that mentions the release dates of the three Claw A1M models. The lineup is led by the Claw A1M powered by a Core Ultra 155H processor, 16 GB of LPDDR5-6400 memory, and 1 TB of NVMe SSD storage; for $799. For $50 less at $749, you get the same device, but with 512 GB of NVMe SSD storage. For a further $100 less, at $699, you get a model with the Core Ultra 5 135H processor, but the same 16 GB LPDDR5 memory, and 512 GB SSD, as the $749 model.

All three models feature a physically identical body design, including the controller layout, and lighting. Performance between the Core Ultra 7 155H and Core Ultra 5 135H models, is bound to differ. The 155H has a 6P+8E+2LP CPU core configuration, but more importantly, maxes out the Graphics Tile, with all 8 Xe cores being enabled (1,024 unified shaders). The Core Ultra 5 135H has a 4P+8E+2LP CPU core config, while its iGPU has 7 Xe cores. The star attraction with this console is its 7-inch touchscreen with 1080p resolution at 120 Hz refresh rate. Comms on all three models include Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4.

MSI could be staggering the launch of its Intel Core Ultra-powered Claw gaming handheld, depending on regional availability—VideoCardz has observed contradictory release date data through UK retail channels. A confusing scenario is presented with some listings mentioning March 20, although others outline various dates going into April. MSI's German e-store appears to be the first outlet to have Claw units "in stock," although the active listing indicates that orders will start shipping on March 5. The pre-orderable "Handheld CLAW A1M-036" seems to be the most basic out of MSI's three launch SKUs—€849 (~$921) bags you a model that sports Intel's Core Ultra 5 135H APU and 512 GB of storage.

Preview samples are out in the wild—YouTube reviewers and influencers have started to show off their pre-release units, but Western embargoes are still in effect at the time of writing. Fairly comprehensive comparison videos emerged just over two weeks ago—courtesy of the "Please, Xiao Fengfeng" Bilibili video channel. The MSI Claw (Ultra 7-155H version) was compared to a close handheld rival; an ASUS ROG Ally (Ryzen Z1 Extreme). Overall, the AMD APU-based Ally seemed to outperform MSI's plucky new entrant—it is possible that the latter was disadvantaged with immature chipset drivers. Intel and its hardware partners are attempting to catch up with Team Red's more widespread release of portable-oriented APU packages—another Meteor Lake-based handheld gaming system, Tulpar, was demoed at a recent Intel Extreme Masters event.

MSI has officially confirmed the price for all three Claw gaming handheld SKUs, including two SKUs with the Intel Core Ultra 7-155H CPU and one equipped with the Core Ultra-135H CPU. The MSI Claw starts at $699.99 for the base version with an Intel Core Ultra 5-135H CPU, 16 GB of LPDDR5 memory, and 512 GB of PCIe Gen 4 M.2 storage. The other two SKUs, are priced at $749.99 and $799.99, both come with a Core Ultra 7-155H CPU, 16 GB of LPDDR5 memory, and either 512 GB or 1 TB of PCIe Gen 4 M.2 storage. Unfortunately, there is no word on the rumored SKU with 32 GB of LPDDR5 memory.

These prices make the MSI Claw just a tad bit more expensive than the ASUS ROG Ally and the Lenovo Legion Go, but it should do well if the performance is there. MSI has also confirmed to The Verge that the Claw's 7-inch 1080p screen comes with Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) operating between 48 and 120 Hz. The MSI Claw is rumored to launch in February or March.

The dust has barely settled after MSI's unveiling of their Claw A1M handheld gaming PC at last week's CES event, but discussions have already started regarding a potential successor. The Taiwanese multinational technology company appears keen to jump into an emerging market—Valve, ASUS ROG, Lenovo and a slew of smaller manufacturers have launched handheld gaming devices. The Claw stands out due to its unusual choice of SoC—an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H APU that deploys an 8-core Arc Xe-LPG iGPU—while everyone else has pretty much sided with AMD. IGN cornered Clifford Chun (MSI's System Product Managing Director) at CES 2024, where he was grilled on the topic of potential future iterations including spec upgrades and OLED displays: "So, just like our laptops, our aim for users who use this will be roughly two to three years because game titles demand a lot more every two or three years. So, at least minimum, that kind of stuff. Obviously, if you play retro games, you can play MSI Claw for 10 years."

Chun continued that line of thought: "So, this will be only the first version of our Claw. We are anticipating to come out version 2, version 3, version 4 down the road and it's already in the pipeline." Gaming hardware detectives posit, given the 2-3 year gap between models, that the next version of MSI's handheld gaming device could debut with Intel Panther Lake and Arc Xe 3 "Celestial" internals. When quizzed about future release windows, Chun did not commit to anything firm: "It really depends on, for example, the CPU or a graphic upgrade down the road. So, just keep in mind, and then just check it out. When something like this happens, do a refresh, and then you will anticipate that MSI will come out with something similar."

MSI made a really bold move building a handheld game console around an Intel Core Ultra processor, when traditional logic would've pushed them to the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme. The Claw is powered by a Core Ultra 7 155H processor with some tight power management by MSI. The 155H comes with a maxed out Arc Xe-LPG integrated graphics, with 8 Xe cores, worth 128 EU (1,024 unified shaders). In comparison, the Ryzen Z1 Extreme has a maxed out Radeon 780M with 12 CU worth 768 stream processors. Specs are just half the story, the design win the Arc Graphics gets from MSI as the primary GPU, over the Radeon 780M that comes from company that's been designing GPUs for close to 3 decades, is the main story here.

The MSI Claw is about the same size as an ASUS ROG Ally (powered by the Ryzen Z1), with a 16:9 1080p, 120 Hz touchscreen in the middle, flanked by two halves of the main controller. The MSI Center M is the main user interface, which runs on top of Windows 11. This has a game launcher, a platform aggregator (though not with a storefront), and will probably get some gamer social media features down the line. There are two variants of the Claw, the $749 main variant powered by the Core Ultra 7 155U, and a cheaper $699 variant that rocks a Core Ultra 5 135H (with 4P+8E CPU). Both come with a 53 Wh battery that's larger than the 40 Wh on the ROG Ally. The demo piece is the $749 model powered by the 155H, and was shown running "Assassin's Creed: Mirage" with XeSS enabled. Gameplay was butter smooth, and with reasonably good settings. The Claw is a much needed vote of confidence for the Arc Graphics team, more than anything.

With the zeitgeist of AI technology taking the world by storm, MSI, a world-leading premium laptop brand, has taken it in stride through its professionalism over luxurious aesthetics, extreme performance and innovative technology. Announcing the world's first gaming handheld powered by Intel Core Ultra Processor - the Claw. Equipped with ARC graphics featuring up to 8 Xe cores and advanced XeSS technology, the Claw ensures smooth gameplay across various AAA titles. Its robust HyperFlow cooling system and a large 53Wh battery, coupled with Thunderbolt 4 connectivity, make it an exceptional handheld gaming device for gamers.

"In our commitment to enhancing the gaming experience for our users, we aim to address market pain points and dedicate efforts to the handheld space," said Eric Kuo, the Executive Vice President& NB BU GM of MSI. "We have fine-tuned specific designs tailored exclusively for gamers, debuting our very first handheld, Claw, which redefines the standards in the handheld market."

Here's the first picture of the MSI Claw, an upcoming handheld gaming console that's out to eat the lunch of category rivals Valve Steam Deck, and the ASUS ROG Ally. The Claw features a familiar handheld console layout with two thumb-sticks with their orbits that have RGB lighting, a D-pad, four action buttons, and some triggers. It's hard to tell from this angle, but the touchscreen in the middle could be of a 16:10 aspect ratio. We know this is a game console, and not a cloud gaming device like the Logitech G Cloud, looking at the 350 RMB Steam voucher offer in this marketing poster. This device is functionally identical to the ASUS ROG Ally, it's a Windows-based handheld that's backed by storefronts such as Steam and EGS. Precious little more is know about it, but given the teasers we're seeing, MSI should give us the details at the 2024 International CES.