MSI Claw Gaming Handheld Leaked, the ROG Ally Competitor

[chrcoluk]

Actually yeah VRR would have made the Deck so much better. The stuff I use if for most has no issues running native at a fluid 60fps but I have run a few AAA games on it that get 40-60fps variable and I end up locking it to 40fps to get consistency.

Unlike you, I never ever use it on mains power though so that 40fps locked is also a power saving that matters to me.

I have yet to find a game where VRR even works (at least in a problem free way), apparently its hard to get it to work on games that dont run full screen exclusive?

Problem is full screen exclusive seemed to die a decade ago.

 

[trsttte]

I bet Nintendo would make more money if they stopped making hardware and released a digital store with all their content on Android, iOS, Windows and Linux.

So many handhelds now, how does the Switch continues ti standout except for content IP?

Contrary to Sony/Microsoft who start the console cycle selling at a loss, Nintendo uses very cheap hardware and has been able to keep selling it at the original high price even as costs go down.

They're playing a different kind of game really, if people could pick and choose other things on a platform like Android or iOS, Nintendo would be very likely to become irrelevant very quickly, the way they do things allows them to lock people in with the hardware.

 

[CyberCT]

I have yet to find a game where VRR even works (at least in a problem free way), apparently its hard to get it to work on games that dont run full screen exclusive?

Problem is full screen exclusive seemed to die a decade ago.

How and why would you say exclusive full screen died a decade ago?
I have always run games in exclusive full screen mode. There's no reason not to.

 

[chrcoluk]

How and why would you say exclusive full screen died a decade ago?
I have always run games in exclusive full screen mode. There's no reason not to.

I guess its the games I play then.

They either support borderless full screen or windowed.

 

[Cheeseball]

I do not understand why the deck does not support AMD software to get Freesync (VRR) support on the Deck? I mean the 5600G fully supports Freesync.

Remember that VRR can only be implemented through both software and hardware, which is unfortunate because the LCD and OLED model's screens don't support VRR. However, if you do hook up the Deck to an external monitor that supports VRR, SteamOS does support it no problem.

On topic, this seems to be a re-badged ROG Ally looking at the picture. The shape and button placement is near accuate with the only differences being the extra plastic-ky garnishes on the bottom and sides. They most likely covered up the XG mobile port as that is proprietary to ASUS ROG portables.

 

[HOkay]

ROG Ally, Legion Go, MSI Claw, Ayaneo anything - it doesn't matter.

Windows UI is the problem, it's not a good fit for this kind of device, and none of these other companies have mastered the software interface the way Valve has, despite having the unfair advantage of native OS support without requiring a translation layer to Linux...

The ROG has also proved that screen resolution, refresh rate, and hardware performance are compromises to the only thing that matters for a handheld - runtime. Do you want 4+ hours of battery live on a Steam Deck at good settings, or do you want 60-90 minutes of battery life at slightly higher settings that are hard to really appreciate on these small displays anyway? The Ally will use 35W to get 30% higher performance in games, but it uses 230% of the power draw of a Steam deck which is ridiculously inefficient.

Plenty of reviews and YouTubers have shown that the only way to get meaningful battery life out of an Ally is to cap the framerate to Steam Deck levels, reduce the screen brightness to Steam Deck levels, and throttle the processor performance to Steam Deck Levels.

You could have just bought a Steam Deck for half the price and saved yourself all the hassle, and capped at 15W TDP, the Steam Deck is actually faster because Windows is a bloated resource hog that pisses away some of that TDP on irrelevant background nonsense that has no place being on a handheld games console in the first place.

Just to throw my $0.02 in here, I agree with you if someone is buying a handheld to play outside the house, e.g. on trains or in the back of cars or something.
However, I had a Deck & switched to a Legion Go as my use case is entirely playing in my house where I can easily plug in a USB C cable whenever required, so battery life is really not a big deal for me. If it can get an hour, that's plenty for me because most play sessions will be that or shorter anyway, & if I'm playing for longer I'll pop in a USB C cable. I've actually mostly been playing whilst my son is asleep in the baby carrier on me. It's been great because I can't do anything else as he wakes up, so pacing around the house playing games on the Go (pun intended, though the name still sucks) has been great entertainment!

All that said, boy do I miss the super fast sleep & resume of the Deck, that feature doesn't get the attention it deserves, that's a huge deal for a handheld imho! But being able to easily play Game Pass games on a much larger, higher refresh rate screen, has been worth the trade-off for me personally. The option to run at 800p & upscale up 1600p is also great for AAA titles on the Go. On a handheld size screen upscaling works so well, in total contrast to on my desktop where I almost never use it because it obviously looks worse on my 42" TV.

 

[CyberCT]

Just to throw my $0.02 in here, I agree with you if someone is buying a handheld to play outside the house, e.g. on trains or in the back of cars or something.
However, I had a Deck & switched to a Legion Go as my use case is entirely playing in my house where I can easily plug in a USB C cable whenever required, so battery life is really not a big deal for me. If it can get an hour, that's plenty for me because most play sessions will be that or shorter anyway, & if I'm playing for longer I'll pop in a USB C cable. I've actually mostly been playing whilst my son is asleep in the baby carrier on me. It's been great because I can't do anything else as he wakes up, so pacing around the house playing games on the Go (pun intended, though the name still sucks) has been great entertainment!

All that said, boy do I miss the super fast sleep & resume of the Deck, that feature doesn't get the attention it deserves, that's a huge deal for a handheld imho! But being able to easily play Game Pass games on a much larger, higher refresh rate screen, has been worth the trade-off for me personally. The option to run at 800p & upscale up 1600p is also great for AAA titles on the Go. On a handheld size screen upscaling works so well, in total contrast to on my desktop where I almost never use it because it obviously looks worse on my 42" TV.

Yup. Almost same scenario with my Ally. Different needs for different people. It's a shame the LGO doesn't have VRR. That's the one thing that kept me from buying it over the Ally. The framerates fluctuate constantly so it was a must for me.