Extreme pricing – The MSI Claw 8 EX+ will cost $1,799.99

MSI lists its new Intel ARC G3-powered Claw 8 EX AI+ handheld, and it’s expensive

How much will the Intel ARC G3 Extreme-powered MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ cost? MSI has officially listed its newest PC gaming handheld on its website, and it’s much more expensive than many gamers expected. With an asking price of $1,799, this handheld costs more than 3.5x the cost of Nintendo’s Switch 2 console.

Given its 32TB of LPDDR5X memory and 1TB of SSD storage, the device’s high price was expected. The greed of AI hyperscalers has made the idea of affordable devices with ample DRAM a pipe dream. With more than 2x the DRAM of Valve’s Steam Deck (which recently had a price increase), and a much more capable SOC, this device was never going to be cheap. That said, almost $2,000 is crazy for a gaming handheld.

The good thing about MSI’s new Claw handheld is that it uses Intel’s ARC G3 Extreme SOC. This handheld’s Xe3 graphics chip is much more capable than the gaming chips inside AMD-powered gaming handhelds. At Computex, Intel claimed that its ARC G3 Extreme CPU could run 42% faster than ASUS’ AMD-powered ROG Xbox Ally X SOC at 35W. That’s a huge win for Intel.

MSI’s new Claw 8 EX AI+ handheld is likely to be the most performant and expensive PC gaming handheld when it launches. Pre-orders are open now for its highest-end version in the US. Given this price, one has to wonder if MSI could release a 16GB or 24GB version to deliver more reasonable pricing, perhaps with an Intel ARC G3 (non-Extreme) chip.

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