Touring the MSI Booth at CES 2024
 MSI at CES – The Claw, Project Zero, and the Maestro
Visiting MSI at CES 2024
MSI was out second port of call at CES 2024. To say the least, MSI was keen to have us over. They have a lot of show us this year, so much so that their presence is larger than ASUS’ and by a large margin. If MSI are making a statement this year, it’s that they are rising up the ranks and are ready to give their competitors a proper challenge in 2024.
The people behind CES
This CES we want to celebrate some of the people who have made the event possible. At MSI’s booth we we want to talk about Olivia Chen. Like the other people behind CES, Olivia has worked around the clock to make the event happen. TTL tells me that her energy can be bottled up and sold for vast sums of money. With that kind of drive behind MSI, it is no wonder that we enjoyed ourselves so thoroughly at their booth.
MSI Claw – The Intel-powered PC gaming handheld
MSI’s PC gaming handheld is one of the most highly anticipated PC gaming devices of CES 2024. It is bringing some much-needed competition into the PC handheld space. No, this isn’t just because MSI are throwing their hats into the ring, but because they are the first to do with with Intel hardware. With an Intel Ultra processor and Xe integrated graphics, MSI are throwing Intel into an AMD-dominated market, and the benchmarks they shown us were impressive.
With its 7-inch 120Hz VRR touch screen, MSI’s Claw is very similar to ASUS’ ROG Ally. That said, MSI promises “leading battery life” with their devices 53Whr battery, and strong cooling with their HyperFlow cooling technology.
One neat feature of the MSI Claw is its use of Hall Effect joysticks and triggers. This makes the MSI claw immune to stick drift, something that can occur on other handhelds. This is a huge upgrade for heavy gamers, especially those who want their joysticks to be as precise as possible.
With CES being as busy as it is, we did not get long to game on MSI’s Claw handheld. It felt gone in our hands during our limited playtime, and we hope to be able to do some in-depth testing for this device in the near future.
EZ120 RGB – Daisy-Chain fans from MSI
Daisy-chainable fans are not new, but MSI’s implementation is. With fans and connection bridges that can connect magnetically, these fans are as easy to connect and use as Lego blocks. Actually, I’d say they are easier than Lego. Just slide your connectors and fans near where they need to be and they will magnetically merge to create a block of fans. Talk about EZ.
Once you have built up your block of fans, all you need to do is connect them to your fan/RGB controller and PC case. It’s as simple as that. With one hub and a daisy-chain cable, MSI says that you can have up to 18 of these fans in a single PC case. That’s more than enough for any use case.
Each fan has LEDs at the center of each fan hub and LEDs around the frames of each fan. This creates a range of RGB lighting effects to enjoy. These are great-looking fans, and we look forward to seeing them again when the launch.
Project Zero
Yesterday we published a deep dive into Project Zero. Simply put, these back-connect motherboards have the potential to transform PC building and PC case design. We can see these products being very popular amongst system integrators like Origin PC, PC Specialist and others. Project Zero almost makes it too easy to build a tidy system.
Above you can see MSI’s Project Zero motherboards lineup. This lineup includes the AMD AM5 B650M Project Zero, the Intel Z790 Project Zero, and the Intel B760M project Zero. All of these motherboards will be available to purchase soon alongside compatible cases from various manufacturers.
Case-wise, we have two MAG PANO series cases. We saw the MATX version of the PANO in our Project Zero Deep Dive, and at CES we have got to see its full-size ATX counterpart. Honestly, we love the look of this case, and much prefer the ATX version to its MATX counterpart.
Below we can see the PANO 100 PZ with a Project Zero motherboard and a large number of EZ120 fans. This system looks phenomenal, and really shows how minimising cable clutter can impact the look of a modern PC.
MSI’s Maestro case
One of the big shockers of MSI’s CES booth is the MEG Maestro. This is a beautiful PC case, and it has firmly set MSI in our “companies to watch” list when it comes to PC case design.
Do you see that tempered glass panel? That’s a single panel! See the aluminium top panel, that extends down the side of the case and to the bottom. This is a premium looking case, and MSI has done a great job showing it off with all of their latest kit.
Maestro LED Crystal Film Concept – A CES Exclusive
To take things over the edge, MSI are showcasing a concept case at their booth that uses an LED crystal film to turn the Meastro’s large tempered glass panel into a usable screen. Users can control what is on this screen in software and can use it to showcase whatever they want. Sadly, this case may never enter production, as the company has stated that this case was phenomenally expensive to produce. Even so, I’d bet that someone would be willing to pay big money for it.
Remember to turn over to the next page, as we have a lot more MSI CES stuff to show you.
