MSI reveals their CLAW Handheld with Intel Inside and a BIG battery
MSI promises battery leadership and superior controls with their CLAW handheld
MSI is the newest company to throw their hat into the PC gaming handheld arena. With their new CLAW handheld, MSI has made some risky decisions, and all of them seems to have paid off. For starters, MSI has Intel as their hardware partner, using Intel Ultra processors to power their device. Contrast this with Valve, ASUS, and Lenovo, all of which are using AMD processors.
The benefits of MSI’s Intel Ultra processors is that their handheld has access to more CPU cores, an NPU (Neural Processing Unit) AI accelerator. With Intel’s Xe graphics, MSI also claims performance leadership, and with their system’s meaty 52 Wh battery, MSI also promises a battery life that is 50% longer than other handhelds.
We were hands on with MSI’s CLAW handheld at their CES booth, and it felt great in the hand and its controls were very responsive. In fact, MSI has confirmed that they are using hall effect joysticks and triggers with their CLAW handheld. This makes their device immune to “stick drift”, something that is a huge bugbear for many hardcore gamers. You won’t need to worry about that with the CLAW.
MSI also promises stellar cooling performance with their twin-fan cooling system and large air vents. MSI’s “Cooler Boost Hyperflow” heatsink setup features twin fans, two heatpipes, and an “intraflow thermal design” that ensures that the CLAW runs at peak performance with optimal thermals.
MSI Claw Specifications
MSI has confirmed that their CLAW handheld will feature up to an Intel Ultra 7 155H processor. This CPU features six Performance Cores, Eight Efficient Cores and two Low Power Efficient Cores. The handheld ships with 16GB of LPDDR5-6400 memory and up to 1TB of SSD storage. GPU-wise the system’s processor features Intel ARC Xe graphics and supports Intel’s XeSS upscaling technology.
The device features a 7-inch 120Hz IPS display that features a display resolution of 1080p. The screen supports variable refresh rates (VRR) and sports a higher resolution than the Steam Deck’s 800p screen.
One neat feature of MSI’s CLAW handheld is that it supports Intel’s Thunderbolt 4 technology. This allows the device to support fast charging, connect to external screens with ease, and support Thunderbolt 4 accessories. The device also supports RGB illumination, features a MicroSD slot, a 3.5mm audio jack, and features a power button with a fingerprint sensor.
Look at our MSI CES Booth tour (video below) to see the MSI CLAW in action.
You can join the discussion on the MSI’s CLAW handheld on the OC3D Forums.
