The MSI Claw is finally available for purchase. The newest entry into the world of Windows gaming handhelds was first revealed to start the year, and now it’s officially shipping after going up for pre-order earlier in the month.
The new MSI Claw is the company’s first entry into the gaming handheld market. It’s a corner of the PC gaming space that was really popularized by the folks over at Valve with its beloved Steam Deck, and now we have another competitor.
It’s now available for purchase from both Best Buy and Newegg. Pricing is sticking with the $699 starting MSRP that was announced back at launch, but you’ll also find some other configurations, too. Here’s a rundown of all the MSI Claw pre-orders:
- Core Ultra 7 1TB SSD: $799 | Best Buy and Newegg
- Core Ultra 7 512GB SSD: $749 | Best Buy and Newegg
- Core Ultra 5 512GB SSD: $699 | Best Buy and Newegg
As a quick refresher, the MSI Claw arrives with a very familar form-factor. There’s nothing new about its handheld design, but it’s the internals, specs, and performance that make it a worthy champion to take on Valve’s headstart in the market. The MSI Claw comes powered by Intel’s newest chips that were announced last month and have been rolling out to all the new reveals across CES 2024. The new Meteor Lake processors used here specifically start with the Core Ultra 5 on the base 512GB model and go all the way up to a Core Ultra 7 155H chipset.
Battery life is another big area where the Claw stands out from the gaming handhelds that have come before it. It has a larger 53Wh capacity, which in its own right is one of the larger batteries in its weight class. In reality, that means you’re looking at around 2 hours of gaming per session, with updated cooling helping keep the system from thermal throttling even under more intense loads. Other perks include a 7-inch 120Hz IPS 1080p display with 500 nits of brightness and VVR support, as well as a pair of Hall Effect joysticks and a Thunderbolt 4 port.
You can get the full scoop on the new handheld over in our launch coverage.
Buy the new MSI Claw now
This is of course just the latest portable gaming device of its kind. There’s also the recent ASUS ROG Ally Gaming handhelds, which offer a very similar design to that of the new Claw. Right now, you can drop the base model with a Ryzen Z1 processor down to $399.99 shipped. It typically sells for $600, and is now seeing a $200 discount down to one of the lowest prices yet. If your portable gaming could use a bit more oomph, the Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor version clocks in at $599.99 with one of its first discounts. This is down from $700.
The ASUS ROG Ally PC gaming handheld arrives as a Steam Deck competitor, flashing an all-white coat of paint and some sprinkled in RGB accenting. Each model comes based around a 7-inch 1080p display and backed by Dolby Atmos audio and support for full Windows. That lets it play titles from the likes of Steam, Xbox Game Pass, and even cloud gaming services. You’ll find a 512GB SSD on each model, as well as your choice of an AMD Ryzen Z1 or Z1 Extreme processor depending on what type of performance you’re after.
By comparison, Valve just launched the new Steam Deck OLED. This new version of the original gaming handheld from Value isn’t a true sucessor, but more of a version 1.5 device. It has the same internal processing power, just now with an updated OLED display and longer battery life. We detail everything new over in our launch coverage, which should give you a better idea of what to expect compared to either the upcoming MSI Claw or the ASUS ROG Ally.
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