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[Draugoth]

MSI Claw A1M - Grip and Game

MSI Claw A1M, a groundbreaking gaming handheld that marks a new era in portable gaming experiences. Powered by Intel® Core™ Ultra processors and featuring Intel® XeSS technology, ensuring a smooth and immersive gameplay experience even on AAA titles.

www.msi.com

The gaming handheld is equipped with a seven-inch LCD display and a 53Wh battery that MSI says should offer two hours of battery life, even with demanding AAA games. ​

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MSI is the latest PC manufacturer to attempt to take on Valve’s Steam Deck with the Claw, a new Windows-based gaming handheld it’s announcing at CES. The Claw is powered by Intel’s new Meteor Lake Core Ultra processor announced last month and can be specced with “up to” an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, according to MSI’s press release. At CES 2024, MSI tells us it plans to ship three models ranging from $699 to $799 when it arrives in the first half of the year — with the base tier shipping with an Core Ultra 5 and 512GB of storage.​

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[Trogdor1123]

Bench marks?

Is it just me or do those bezels look thick? Looks pretty comfy for hands though.

 

[phant0m]

Does is the GPU in this based on Arc?

 

[Topher]

Looks like a black Rog Ally. The AMD vs Intel battle will be interesting at least

 

[Futaleufu]

How effective are those low power cores to extend battery life?

 

[rocketleague]

lcd screen, yikes

 

[StereoVsn]

How effective are those low power cores to extend battery life?

It’s a 28w chip and lowest it can drop is 15w I think. Not sure about performance at that TDP, nothing has been released yet.

 

[Paulistano]

Good luck with that Intel Gpu...

 

[LordCBH]

Intel ewwww

 

[Kdad]

 

[Baki]

Intel = no.

 

[Barakov]

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The fans are so big on this thing that it's going to have lift off.

 

[Codes 208]

i dont like how the entire backside is vented. Other than that, i dig its form factor, it looks like it’d be more hands-friendly than the rog ally

 

[Quantum253]

That battery life and style is bringing back Sega GameGear vibes

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Guess we'll see how Intel Arc drivers are these days compared to AMD Radeon drivers huh

 

[Sleepwalker]

LCD, big ass vents and dragon center, I am so out.

 

[Setsuna Mudou]

LCD, big ass vents and dragon center, I am so out.

Intel inside... they need helicopter fans to keep it cool enough

 

[Same ol G]

2 hours batterylife.............

 

[Myths]

Can never get over some these GPU vendors’ product aesthetic. Sometimes they try way too hard on the shape and contour, almost a “military tough” appearance.

 

[CuteFaceJay]

I'm actually getting tired of seeing these low effort WindowsOS portables.

 

[systemr123]

The fans are so big on this thing that it's going to have lift off.

Big fans mean less noise, so that’s a positive I guess?

 

[SmokedMeat]

These guys just don’t get it with the pricing.

Toss it on the pile with the others.

 

[RoboFu]

Two whole hours! Is it the early 90s again? Does it also take 12 AA batteries?

 

[systemr123]

Thread title:

MSI announces MCI Claw​

What brand is MCI? Does MSI have a MSI claw and a MCI claw now?

 

[Holammer]

Looking forward to the benchmarks.
The MSI logo is horrible, on the same level as Unreal's tribal tattoo logo. It has a sports car vibe like the Ferrari logo, but it's so gaudy.

 

[Ozriel]

I'm actually getting tired of seeing these low effort WindowsOS portables.

What exactly is ‘low effort’ about this?

Two whole hours! Is it the early 90s again? Does it also take 12 AA batteries?

2 hours in an AAA game like FH5 is actually a bit better than the original SteamDeck managed. The launch Switch could only eke out 3 hours playing Zelda BOTW, in comparison.
Modern workloads demand more powerful chipsets.

 

[MonkeyClaw36]

Good! The more, the better. I foresee price wars between Asus, Steamdeck, this and other future entries.

This is good for the consumer. Let them out-price and out-tech each other.

 

[FinalBossWithTheMostPower]

Good! The more, the better. I foresee price wars between Asus, Steamdeck, this and other future entries.

This is good for the consumer. Let them out-price and out-tech each other.

This.

I have the ROG Z1E and while it's awesome, I recognize that handheld PCs will have inherently shorter lifespans due to the competition.

That's fine, as long as rapid evolution keeps pushing the boundaries of the specs and drives lower prices. At this point, most of us are used to upgrading phones every two years anyway, so a similar cycle for handhelds won't be unbearable.

 

[Dr.D00p]

Not sure I'd want to be relying on Intel Graphics Drivers, TBH.

New games may get the attention but my primary use for a handheld would be to play my back catalogue of Steam Games, many of which use DX9.

...DX9 or earlier drivers with Intel ARC are still not in a good place and may never be.

 

[MonkeyClaw36]

This.

I have the ROG Z1E and while it's awesome, I recognize that handheld PCs will have inherently shorter lifespans due to the competition.

That's fine, as long as rapid evolution keeps pushing the boundaries of the specs and drives lower prices. At this point, most of us are used to upgrading phones every two years anyway, so a similar cycle for handhelds won't be unbearable.

Yup, currently I'm seeing more and more Steamdecks on the Dutch equivalent of Craigslist and the prices are dropping. Saw one with a dock, 128gb for 400 euros. 2 months earlier the prices were a stable 100 euro more.
Not that I'll be buying second hand but it's a good indication that the market isn't exclusive enough anymore for people to ask almost full price.

 

[calistan]

Really unfortunate name for a handheld - I'd associate 'claw' with discomfort and hand cramps.

 

[Tommi84]

Big fans mean less noise, so that’s a positive I guess?

If we believe Dave2D, then it's better than any previous Intel based things and is pretty guiet, but he said that it's a pre-prod unit and cannot say if it's going to stay like this or change..

Also, there's lioe 'fan boost' mode which ramps the speed of the fans and they get LOUD then

 

[Papa_Wisdom]

 

[keefged4]

Competition is good in the handheld PC space, but I wish they'd look at what the competition is doing and at least offer basic features that they have.

Each one of these new handhelds pale in comparason to what the Deck can do already, so why would anyone choose them over a deck, let alone an oled deck? No trackpads and only two back paddles = no buy instantly. Even if it outperfoms the deck (lol)

 

[Dr.D00p]

Each one of these new handhelds pale in comparason to what the Deck can do already, so why would anyone choose them over a deck

Mainly to be able to use any Windows programme without having to jump through Steam OS hoops.

 

[keefged4]

Mainly to be able to use any Windows programme without having to jump through Steam OS hoops.

Settings - Properties - Compatability - Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool - Choose the lastest one, and if it doesn't work try the next.

There is literally not one game I haven't managed to get running on the deck. Not one. Some need a custom proton version which means you'll have to get GE proton (scary stuff!)

It's a shame that folk are put off by this. I'd argue Windows is worse than Steam OS at this point, and especially on this device it'll be a nightmare to get everything set up without trackpads.

 

[jshackles]

What brand is MCI? Does MSI have a MSI claw and a MCI claw now?

 

[THE DUCK]

At least it has a price set, so much of the ces announcements have no price, hard to get excited about products that may or may not be reasonably priced.

 

[64bitmodels]

Good luck with that Intel Gpu...

it's arc and arc has better upscaling and rt than amd... probably the closest you'll get to DLSS and ray reconstruction on a handheld

 

[64bitmodels]

anyways, this looks pretty cool. Interested in what the benchmarks will look like when it does drop

 

[Dr.D00p]

it's arc and arc has better upscaling and rt than amd... probably the closest you'll get to DLSS and ray reconstruction on a handheld

The hardware isn't the problem, it's the drivers that can let Intel GPUs down

 

[Ozriel]

Competition is good in the handheld PC space, but I wish they'd look at what the competition is doing and at least offer basic features that they have.

Each one of these new handhelds pale in comparason to what the Deck can do already, so why would anyone choose them over a deck, let alone an oled deck? No trackpads and only two back paddles = no buy instantly. Even if it outperfoms the deck (lol)

These were undoubtedly made to compete with the base Deck.
This one has a significantly better display than the original Deck, with higher resolution and framerate, a more powerful chipset and bigger battery. Has VRR support and Hall effect joysticks. Not to mention improved Wireless and Bluetooth modules and much more robust support for eGPUs for docked use cases.

they’ve made a call that the trackpads and more than two back paddles aren’t essential. Trackpads on my Deck are only used for navigating SteamOS desktop.

I’m not sure how you can look at the listed specs and claim with a straight face that this doesn’t look to improve on what the Deck does, in multiple ways.


Bad enough to deal with tribalism over consoles without this spilling over into the PC handheld space. Competition helps…we’ll see more entrants hopefully, and hopefully more with OLED displays.

 

[keefged4]

These were undoubtedly made to compete with the base Deck.
This one has a significantly better display than the original Deck, with higher resolution and framerate, a more powerful chipset and bigger battery. Has VRR support and Hall effect joysticks. Not to mention improved Wireless and Bluetooth modules and much more robust support for eGPUs for docked use cases.

they’ve made a call that the trackpads and more than two back paddles aren’t essential. Trackpads on my Deck are only used for navigating SteamOS desktop.

I’m not sure how you can look at the listed specs and claim with a straight face that this doesn’t look to improve on what the Deck does, in multiple ways.


Bad enough to deal with tribalism over consoles without this spilling over into the PC handheld space. Competition helps…we’ll see more entrants hopefully, and hopefully more with OLED displays.

Here, I'm not disagreeing with you that competition is good, I'm all for it. If this had trackpads and the same back buttons as the deck I'd definately be more interested in it is all I'm saying. Trackpads in combination with Gyro with fps games is amazing, and I'd struggle to go without them if I had to jump ship to another device.

 

[64bitmodels]

they’ve made a call that the trackpads and more than two back paddles aren’t essential

even if you were to omit trackpads there's plenty of use to be found in having 4 back paddles for many genres of games. Mostly because 99% of people will just use the first 2 back paddles as L3/R3 alternatives, so really having 4 is in functionality actually giving us 2.

 

[analog_future]

nm

 

[Danknugz]

Can never get over some these GPU vendors’ product aesthetic. Sometimes they try way too hard on the shape and contour, almost a “military tough” appearance.

guns yo

 

[CuteFaceJay]

What exactly is ‘low effort’ about this?



2 hours in an AAA game like FH5 is actually a bit better than the original SteamDeck managed. The launch Switch could only eke out 3 hours playing Zelda BOTW, in comparison.
Modern workloads demand more powerful chipsets.

It's running windows fam. they've just slapped together a cheap looking device with Windows and hiked up the price tag. 100% that windows licence is being passed onto the person buying this shit.

Another crap device with windows slapped on it boxes up and shipped out. One would hope MSI don't drop the ball like ASUS ROG did when it comes to QA.

 

[KungFucius]

Can never get over some these GPU vendors’ product aesthetic. Sometimes they try way too hard on the shape and contour, almost a “military tough” appearance.

It was driven by people who like to have carnivals in their desktop. The idea that a PC build is supposed to look "cool" is just bizarre. It certainly helped sell some products, but some people choose looks over anything else. It makes GPU shortages worse because people buy whatever they can get while still trying to get the card they like the look of the most.

 

[Ozriel]

It's running windows fam. they've just slapped together a cheap looking device with Windows and hiked up the price tag. 100% that windows licence is being passed onto the person buying this shit.

Most hands on videos and impressions say otherwise, with respect to build quality and visuals. And the starting price for the 512gb Claw is only $50 higher than that of the 512gb SteamDeck which everyone kept arguing was very attractively priced.
Being $50 higher than the Deck without having hardware costs offset by Steam revenue seems like fair pricing indeed.

One would hope MSI don't drop the ball like ASUS ROG did when it comes to QA.

I’d certainly hope it doesn’t have the well documented issues Asus had, especially with the terrible SD slot issues. And I hope they launch with much more stable software and Drivers than the Ally and Legion Go.

I’m happy with my Deck OLED so probably won’t be buying this, but I’m excited to see if Intel’s chips provide meaningful competition in this space. Windows won’t be a deterrent for me.

 

[Ozriel]

It was driven by people who like to have carnivals in their desktop. The idea that a PC build is supposed to look "cool" is just bizarre. It certainly helped sell some products, but some people choose looks over anything else. It makes GPU shortages worse because people buy whatever they can get while still trying to get the card they like the look of the most.

Never understood the appeal of RGB-ing everything myself. Adds some tackiness in many cases. Ruins the look of many high end laptops.

I don’t like the look of the buttons in this device and it’s that way because they wanted RGB on the buttons. They should have gone with the ones on the Ally.