MSI opens up preorders on the new Claw 8 AI+ and Claw 7 AI+ with Intel Lunar Lake SoC
MSI launched its latest gaming handhelds, the MSI Claw 8 AI+ and MSI Claw 7 AI+, this week, following up on its inaugural MSI Claw that launched earlier this year.
The new MSI Claw handhelds will feature the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V system-on-a-chip (SoC), which features Intel's new Arc Xe2 graphics architecture for improved gaming performance and efficiency. The first MSI Claw featured Intel's previous generation SoC, and the handheld received somewhat mixed reviews regarding performance.
With the second-generation Intel Core Ultra 7 chip, however, the MSI Claw 8 AI+ and Claw 7 AI+ should be able to move past the problems of its predecessor. Though, we won't know for sure until we get our hands on one ourselves.
In addition to the Core Ultra 7 chip, the Claw 8 AI+ will feature an 8-inch 1200p, 120Hz display with 100% sRGB color gamut and up to 500 nits brightness. It also comes with 32GB LPDDR5x-8533 RAM (impressive for a gaming handheld), a 1TB PCIe SSD, and a massive 80 WHr battery with 65W USB 3.,0 power delivery.
The Claw 7 AI+, meanwhile, differs from the above only in its screen size – it's 7 inches rather than 8 inches – and a smaller 54.5 WHr battery.
The MSI Claw 8 AI+ is available for preorder now at Best Buy, Amazon, and the MSI Store for $899.99 in the US, while the Claw 7 AI+ is available for $799.99 (about £700 / £630, respectively, in the UK, and about AU$1,400 / AU$1,245 in Australia, though UK and Australia availability and pricing have not yet been confirmed).
When the original MSI Claw debuted at CES 2024, I was as excited as anyone to see what the new handheld, the first powered by an Intel chip, could do. With the Intel Core Ultra 100-series SoC, the first Claw had some things going for it, such as hardware accelerated upscaling via XeSS, the first gaming handheld to do so.
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Unfortunately, the gaming performance of the Intel Core
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