MSI Confirms Claw Prices for All Three SKUs, Confirms VRR Screen

[GFreeman]

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.



In case you missed it, the Intel Core Ultra 7-155H is a 16-core/22-thread CPU (6 P-cores/10 E-cores) boosting up to 4.8 GHz, and comes with 8 GPU Xe-Cores, leaving it with 128 Execution Units (EUs). In earlier reviews, the Core Ultra 7-155H did quite well in GPU benchmarks, and it is still left to be seen how well it will do in the MSI Claw handheld and against the rest of the competition like the ASUS ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go, and the Valve Steam Deck. The Core Ultra-135H, on the other hand, is a 14-core/18-thread CPU boosting up to 4.6 GHz (4 P-cores/10 E-cores), and comes with 7 GPU Xe-Cores, or simply, 96 Execution Units. The performance difference between these two Intel CPUs should not be as big as the difference between AMD's Ryzen Z1 and the Ryzen Z1 Extreme.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[Philaphlous]

Someone must have watched Toy Story before they decided on a name of this handheld... "the claw"

 

[P4-630]

Can you still use it when windows 11 is EOL?...

 

[Squared]

Intel Ark says that the 135H has all 8 Xe cores and they're only clocked 50 MHz lower than the 155H. In either case though the GPU will be way ahead of the AMD Z1 with its 4 CUs, since the 12 CU Z1 Extreme only matches the performance of the 155H and its 8 Xe cores.

Intel® Core™ Ultra 5 Processor 135H (18M Cache, up to 4.60 GHz) - Product Specifications | Intel

Intel® Core™ Ultra 5 Processor 135H (18M Cache, up to 4.60 GHz) quick reference with specifications, features, and technologies.

ark.intel.com

 

[Shihab]

Can you still use it when windows 11 is EOL?...

It's practically just a small laptop. So, most likely yes.
And there is always linux...

 

[Vya Domus]

VRR should be a must have on these things given that they are so weak, you will never have a locked framerate.

 

[P4-630]

It's practically just a small laptop. So, most likely yes.
And there is always linux...

So I just run my steam games on this?

Then it would be as long as steam supports windows 11....

 

[PLAfiller]

Can you still use it when windows 11 is EOL?...

It looks like there is some time, I mean between the rumors for Win12 being a major update on Win 11 and "some time in 2024" release date...I guess they have like 2 years or so

 

[Shihab]

So I just run my steam games on this?

Then it would be as long as steam supports windows 11....

Specs say it's a normal Windows 11 Home machine. So you can run whatever you do on a normal PC (within limitations of the hardware, of course). EGS, UConnect, GoG standlones, the crypto miner-laden cracks, etc.

Unless Microsoft drastically changed requirements for Windows 12, I don't see why it wouldn't run either.

And even if they did, there is, again, always Linux.

 

[Jomale]

Intel Ark says that the 135H has all 8 Xe cores and they're only clocked 50 MHz lower than the 155H. In either case though the GPU will be way ahead of the AMD Z1 with its 4 CUs, since the 12 CU Z1 Extreme only matches the performance of the 155H and its 8 Xe cores.

Intel® Core™ Ultra 5 Processor 135H (18M Cache, up to 4.60 GHz) - Product Specifications | Intel

Intel® Core™ Ultra 5 Processor 135H (18M Cache, up to 4.60 GHz) quick reference with specifications, features, and technologies.

ark.intel.com

you missed one important information, I think:
Du hast Informationen verpasst, denke ich:

 

[theouto]

Man that TDP reeks of subpar battery life.

you missed one important information, I think:
Du hast Informationen verpasst, denke ich:
View attachment 332125
View attachment 332127

 

[CyberCT]

Having gone from an OG Steam Deck to the Ally, I can confirm high refresh and VRR are absolutely essential on these handheld devices. I can't even use my Steam Deck and it's abysmal screen tearing 60hz screen. It even struggled with more demanding titles to keep an average 60fps .. while the Ally could easily push above 60fps 95% of the time. The Deck is just way under powered, even with the recent refresh. It's only good for emulation at this point, vs the competition.

It's also nice to have Windows vs Linux. Everything on my Windows desktop PCs just work on the Ally, including reWASD, Borderless Gaming, and other required mods and programs. Install MS Office, your favorite music player, etc, and you have a mobile desktop PC that's dockable to a large screen. Transferring files, playlists, saves, etc between the Ally and PCs is also a breeze. Windows is very familiar territory for most.

Windows 11 is a RAM hog though. 5GB VRAM allocation is enough for every game I play. Most games don't use 4GB VRAM. Just customize an RTSS OSD to show all these values and watch them as you play. Running demanding games at 720p with max AA results in an almost jaggy free image with better frame rates (vs 1080p no AA) and less VRAM usage and well within 11GB system RAM, even with Windows using 50% of that 11GB. I have the pagefile stats on my RTSS OSD and the pagefile is rarely changed. I allowed up to 12 GB of pagefile available.

1TB is not enough. These should come with 2TB SSDs and up the price to include it. I have a 2TB SSD on my Ally.

 

[Deleted member 229121]

Someone must have watched Toy Story before they decided on a name of this handheld... "the claw"

Liar Liar counts too

 

[bonehead123]

But...

BUT......

Can it run the "can it run crysis" app ?.......hahahaha

 

[Squared]

you missed one important information, I think:
Du hast Informationen verpasst, denke ich:
View attachment 332125
View attachment 332127

I was comparing the 135H to the Z1. And the 155H does have a less efficient CPU than the Z1 Extreme. But since you brought it up, let's turn to a source that tested the 155H and the 7840U (essentially the same as the Z1 Extreme) in games, Michael Larabel at Phoronix, who said, "But in any event it's clear from these results that Arc Graphics with Core Ultra can compete or outperform AMD RDNA3 integrated graphics while leading in performance-per-Watt."

Intel Meteor Lake Arc Graphics: A Fantastic Upgrade, Battles AMD RDNA3 Integrated Graphics Review - Phoronix

www.phoronix.com

So in the workload handheld gaming PCs are meant for, it would seem that the 155H is more efficient than the Z1 Extreme and just as performant.

 

[trsttte]

The back and forward between having or not having VRR killed any possible interest I could have in this device

 

[CyberCT]

The back and forward between having or not having VRR killed any possible interest I could have in this device

Huh? It has VRR. You should be VERY interested, if this type of device is something you'd use.

 

[trsttte]

Huh? It has VRR. You should be VERY interested, if this type of device is something you'd use.

You might have missed some of the news, at first it was going to have VRR, then it wasn't, then it was "VRR" as in you can change the refresh rate of the screen which might technically be correct to still call VRR but is basically pure bullshit and now it will have VRR after all.

It's not really a type of device I'm in the market for, but if I was this wouldn't be it.