Given the number of similar devices available today, this device has great potential. But even in preproduction, when the hardware and software haven’t been finalized, this PC built for your palms is excellent in performance and comfort. It’s so light, 1.7 pounds, that I didn’t have to apply force to lift it up. Its display is so big that you will not be able to see the characters on the screen. This affects the target frame rate and performance, ultimately giving me the feeling that handhelds are coming into their own.
Of course, for that privilege, the device can cost closer to $1,500. MSI hasn’t revealed specific pricing yet, but the Taiwan-based PC and peripherals company, along with Intel, has independently confirmed that we could be in for an expensive device. However, I haven’t had enough testing time to properly evaluate whether the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ is worth the cost. I’m not sure any gaming handheld is worth that much.
Anyway, I spent several hours with all four of the newly announced handhelds featuring Intel’s Arc G3 Extreme chip. There are OneXPlayer 3 and OneXPlayer X2, the latter of which features an optional keyboard attachment and removable controls such as Now-$2,000 Lenovo Legion Go 2 (are you sensing a theme here?). There’s also the Acer Predator Atlas 8, which packs the same 8-inch display as MSI’s Claw 8X AI. Based solely on the control of these preproduction units, I would still prefer the Claw.
I came to Computex 2026 with the Asus ROG Xbox Ally I also had a debranded Killswitch case wrapped around it, which makes the device feel bulkier and bulkier than usual. While the Claw 8X weighs about 0.2 pounds more than the Ellie, it’s slimmer due to its lack of a full Xbox-controller-like grip. Looks like MSI has mastered ergonomics this time. My hands easily slid into each grip, comforted by the textured plastic on each side.
While the sticks felt thinner than I normally like, they had a full range of motion. Plus, they have Hall Effect, a type of magnetic sensing technology that is better at resisting dangerous stick drift and inaccurate input problems. The Acer Predator Atlas is stuck with an old-school potentiometer joystick, which is naturally prone to potential breakage. The MSI’s face button and trigger ergonomics were also tailored to my talon shape.
MSI’s new handheld seems like it’s built for use out of a dock or away from a power outlet. With that in mind, it’s the performance that puts this device over the top. I played many games, including forza horizon 6, Hogwarts LegacyAnd Claire Obscure: Campaign 33All at a high TDP (thermal design power) of 35W, and each managed to beat 60 fps at high graphics settings, with the help of Intel’s XeSS upscaling.
Intel promises that these new Arch G3 Extreme-based handhelds will outperform AMD’s Ryzen Z2 Extreme in several key ways. In its own charts, Intel promises that you’ll see the new Claw 8 defeat the Asus ROG Xbox Ally Some games, like diablo iv, Get approximately 85% better performance—equivalent to 122 fps vs. 66 fps. There were titles that Claw could run at over 60 fps, where the companion was scraping at 30 fps.
This cannot be attributed to AI upscaling alone. On my flight to Taipei, Taiwan, I played for a few hours 007 first light On the Xbox Ally MSI Claw 8 EX AI+, with high graphics settings and FSR enabled, I could play the game at a buttery 80 fps. He was running the game at the system’s full TDP without the power cable, but it was still a better experience on Claw than on Ellie.
At 17W, the Claw 8 still beats the Xbox Ally cyberpunk 2077. In other titles, such as crimson desert Or battlefield 6At those wattage the Claw can perform up to 18% worse. Intel chalked it up to driver and compatibility issues rather than hardware. This still shows how much better your experience will be depending on the game you’re running.
Intel’s Arch G3 Extreme is essentially a cut-down Panther Lake laptop chip with only two P (performance) cores. The other 12 cores are all E (efficiency) and LP-E (low-power efficiency) cores. This shifts the importance to the GPU side of the chip. At power levels below 12W, Intel said the handheld doesn’t even enable the Pi core. The system is thus GPU dependent, although one advantage of relying on efficiency cores is overall battery life. If you limit the power envelope to 17W on “Endurance” mode, Intel claims you can get more than five hours of battery life in games forza horizon 6.
This is where Intel tries to advance its multi-frame generation technology. This technique is a form of frame interpolation that inserts an AI-generated frame between two rendered frames, thereby artificially increasing the frame rate. The chip maker stressed that it’s just an option. Intel Fellow Tom Peterson, the company’s main mouthpiece for most things gaming and computing, emphasized that this technology is better thought of as frame “smoothing” rather than increasing actual performance.
I’ve said it before, but frame generation matters more on smaller screens with less-powerful systems. Frame generation produces strange visual artifacts, especially when the game runs at a low frame rate before interpolation is enabled. It’s hard to see those visual errors on a smaller display. Intel wants you to enable frame generation to help overcome battery life loss, though you’ll still need to go into Intel’s graphics software (which will force you to use the touchscreen) to force multi-frame generation to work in XeSS-compatible games.
Claw 8X AI+ made me stay hungry for longer periods of time. Luckily, the device is set to launch on June 25th, so I won’t have to wait long to get an in-depth look at it. Despite rising RAM prices, the $1,500 price tag is a tough step to bear. To be worth it, Claw has to be the only handheld device you need. Let’s hope that happens.
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