MSI’s Lime-Coloured Claw A8 Will Make You Overlook In regards to the Lacking Xbox Handheld

With none signal of that rumored Xbox handheld, the Computex computing convention in Taipei, Taiwan has been lacking out on what’s now among the finest avenues for gaming on the go—handheld PCs. MSI is now posing because the lone determine selling a complete new class of handhelds with the Claw A8. It’s a tool that appears very, very near what we’ve seen earlier than—even in blinding lime inexperienced—however it might provide a glimpse of what’s in retailer for handhelds past the Nintendo Switch 2, though we nonetheless don’t understand how a lot it should price.

The Claw A8 is available in two colours—a white and a really, very inexperienced hue. The shell seems to be acquainted when you’ve seen MSI’s different handhelds, and when you didn’t know the machine contained an 8-inch 120Hz IPS show with variable refresh price, you will have assumed it was the unique Asus ROG Ally or perhaps a white model of the Claw 7 A1M. Not like last year’s Claw 8 AI+, the brand new handheld contains extra extreme, squared-off edges. That doesn’t essentially imply it’s uncomfortable. MSI stated it designed the machine’s underside grips to make it simpler to carry whereas nonetheless letting your fingers attain the entrance thumbsticks and face buttons. The Claw A8’s controls embody Corridor impact joysticks, which ought to make the machine last more with out the standard concern of stick drift.

The opposite massive distinction between this machine and final yr’s iteration is the CPU. The Claw A8 is among the few of its type confirmed to accommodate an AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme. That chip is a sequel to the Ryzen Z1, one of many most-used handheld CPUs from the final two years. The brand new CPU is constructed on the chipmaker’s Zen 5 microarchitecture, bringing it according to AMD’s newest household of Strix Level laptop computer CPUs. It’s additionally supposed to supply much better graphics potential than its predecessor. We’ve seen the chip working with a couple of video games on an early model of the Lenovo Legion Go 2, however with out our personal assessments, we are able to solely speculate on simply how significantly better will probably be over related units you should purchase in the present day.

MSI’s Claw A8 is a complicated identify when you’ve heard of the corporate’s earlier flagship handheld, the Claw 8 AI+. That machine was a beast by way of efficiency, not the least as a result of it contained an Intel Core Extremely 7 258V, a full laptop computer CPU that used Intel’s Arc 140V graphics. That meant the machine was way more hefty than the competitors, however it supplied strong efficiency for its $1,000 value (the associated fee has gone up since launch, however you’ll be fortunate to search out it accessible anyway). The Claw 8 AI+ additionally holds the sting in reminiscence in comparison with the A8. The brand new handheld has a max of 24GB of RAM with a slower 8,000MHz velocity in comparison with the 8 AI+’s 8,533MHz. No less than the squatter handheld will weigh rather less than the final era’s cumbersome body.

MSI transferring to AMD It appears much less a betrayal and extra an acknowledgement that there’s a profit to a devoted gaming CPU designed particularly for a tool of this measurement. A laptop computer chip is solely constructed to deal with extra productiveness duties. Intel additionally appears to understand it’s lacking out on this house. The chipmaker lately advised Laptop Mag it was engaged on handheld-specific CPUs.

PC-class gaming, now in your palms. Pre-order the brand new Lenovo Legion Go S with Steam OS at https://t.co/3jqjW1logY pic.twitter.com/5qb5nyzcTn

— Lenovo Legion (@LenovoLegion) March 28, 2025

There hasn’t been an excessive amount of information about gaming handhelds within the months following CES 2025 in January. Lenovo opened up the yr with the Legion Go S, a lower-powered handheld with Home windows 11, and the still-unreleased Legion Go 2 with the Ryzen Z2 Excessive. That machine with its brand-specific AMD Ryzen Z2 Go chip didn’t knock our socks off, particularly for its value, however we have now a sense a cheaper price that edges nearer to the $550 Steam Deck OLED, mixed with the console-like expertise of SteamOS, will make it a significantly better handheld expertise. That Legion Go S with SteamOS ought to be accessible Might 25 for $600 with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.

The gaming elephant nonetheless stomping round this crowded room is the Nintendo Switch 2. Those that need to get into Nintendo’s sequel system for $450 could not need to drop much more cash on a separate handheld. Nintendo’s impending June 5 launch date looks as if an excellent excuse for each Asus and Lenovo to carry off on a dearer, extra highly effective console till later. We must always hear extra about pricing within the following months. By that point, we’ll be so overwhelmed with handhelds we’ll must develop extra palms to attempt all of them.