Claw A1M 7" 120Hz FHD 1080P Gaming Handheld-Intel core CU7 155H-Intel Arc-16GB-512GBSSD - Windows

Great ergonomics for a handheld, can hold and play this all day. When I'm on the go, the only thing preventing from longer sessions is the battery life. Then again, 4 hours of modern AAA games is more than enough for anybody to be honest. Especially awesome now that I have a newborn, plays everything I want smoothly. Great speakers, hall effect joysticks, literally does everything I want, no hiccups. No game limitations like the steam deck. No hardware issues like the Ally (wifi dropping) or Legion Go (crackling speakers).

The MSI Claw is a very interesting piece of tech. Using Intel’s new Core Ultra processors and running Windows gives it a wide range of compatibility. However, since Intel’s processors are on the newer side, there seems to be a few little wrinkles on the software side. Intel does seem to be moving rapidly to improve its drivers and, in turn, performance. - Hardware – The physical feel and appearance of the Claw are excellent. Its weight feels very balanced, and it is extremely comfortable to hold, even for extended periods. I am one of those that like to rest my hands on a surface while I’m using a handheld, and I’ve found that the Claw is very comfortable for this. The grips feel great, and button placement feels natural as well. It’s also nice that where your hands are resting while using the Claw that they don’t block the speakers. The hall effect thumbsticks feel great too. Control feels precise and there are options to tweak them to suit your needs as well. Face buttons feel good too. Triggers are also a high point for me. The bumpers are not quite as satisfying feeling as the triggers, but they still feel good. The screen is excellent, 1080p resolution, high refresh rates, with good colors and the added benefit of VRR. Touch also works very well in my time using it. - Software – On the software side, there are a few things to be aware of. Like I mentioned before, some of the software is in its early stages, so, like other handhelds, it has a few issues but is rapidly improving. MSI’s control center has had a few updates already in the short time I’ve had the Claw, improving with each release. Graphics drivers and BIOS updates have also been rapidly improving. Each offering more performance and options. In fact, I was going to post a review earlier, but read about an upcoming BIOS release (109) that offered significant improvements, so I waited to get it installed and test some more. To MSI’s credit, the new update did bring significant improvements. They included a new “Overboost” mode along with other improvements that added performance in every game I tested. I imagine that each release of new Intel graphics drivers will offer further improvements as well. But the rapid pace that MSI is releasing BIOS and other updates shows they’re committed to the Claw. The other side of the coin is Windows. I really wanted a handheld that ran Windows natively. Not only are you able to run Steam on it, you get the added benefit of running any other launcher on there as well. For me, the big one being Xbox Game Pass. Having a subscription (which the Claw comes with a trial for), is an excellent way to play and try out games. Being able to play games from any launcher without jumping through a bunch of hoops is a huge plus to me. The downside of that being that some things aren’t quite optimized for the smaller screen, or without an actual mouse. Though the Claw’s thumbsticks do work to move the mouse cursor, and the Claw’s overlay will allow you to initiate the on-screen keyboard at any time. One issue I did have, was during the initial setup of Windows. The keyboard to enter information never showed. This seems to be a known issue, as MSI suggest you just restart the Claw using the power button, and this did allow me to continue setup. The overlay was very useful to me in general though. It includes options for screenshots/recording, switching performance profiles, getting frame information and more. Another benefit of running on Windows though, you also get the opportunity to use MSI’s Android emulator. Making it possible to play Android games on the Claw as well. Many of which support controllers, so it just adds another platform of games that are playable. - Perfomance – Performance can vary greatly between games on the Claw. I believe this is largely due to the lack of maturity of Intel’s Arc graphics. Some games, like the Forza games (Forza Motorsport 2023 and Forza Horizon 5) perform very well on the Claw. In the previous BIOS (106), there was some stuttering present in these games, but the latest BIOS (109) seems to have largely eliminated these issues. I don’t think the stuttering was a lack of performance, it seems related to something else, as it would be fairly consistent, then stutter for a moment. Going from framerates in the mid-30s to the mid-40s with the 109 update. Cyberpunk 2077 is another example of the performance gains. I was also about to get into the 40s with it as well. There’s plenty of room for tweaking to get added performance as well. I’m sure there will be even further gains as Intel and MSI make continued updates as well. I would say this is in line, performance-wise as other handhelds. Though it will vary between games. - Audio – I wanted to take a moment to point out how excellent the speakers are on the Claw. It has the best sounding speakers of any of the handhelds I’ve used. Far surpassing several of them. There is software that enhances the audio as well, imitating surround sound, that is very believable. This is also made even better by the speaker placement, making sure your hands don’t block the speakers as you’re holding the Claw. Pros: Great physical design and comfort, nice buttons and thumbsticks, good screen, excellent audio, rapid improvements to software Cons: Software inconsistency, some performance issues (though seemingly greatly improving), user experience isn’t super friendly just yet (also improving)

Quick Glance Pros: Hall effect joysticks Fantastic Nahimic audio Comfortable yet light for man hands Nice quick screen It's Windows for more than games RGB lights Fingerprint unlock for security 11+ foot 65w USB-C power cord Cons: No case Pricer than competition Not fully baked for all games SSD upgrade requires more effort I am liking the Claw so far and its potential to be very good is high. Nahimic audio is a clear winner and it feels great in hand for me, a grown man. It is definitely a work in progress and maybe not quite ready or easy for all game playing device. This machine like most tech items lately, was launched before the whole product is ready for every possible level of customer interaction is finished. No different than it's competitors. Yet, reviewers often fail to mention this when they tell you to buy their favorite handheld that has almost 2 years of updates under the belt. I do own a few of the other mobile gaming devices and they are further along. But don't count the Claw out quite yet. Updates are rolling in, things are improving and the community is helping others get this playing your favorite games. So, out of the box, there is no case included. It took 4+ hours of updates to clear out the list before I even tried to play a game as many say is a must before attempting to play a game (this is good advice). The typical Windows updates and personalization are easy and the MSI M Center live updates are also easy to do and follow. There is even a nice forum link for Claw user base to use in the M Center to help know the latest software to look for. Next you will be downloading your gaming platforms for the games you own or subscribe to, Steam, Ubisoft, Xbox, Epic, EA are already linked. I also needed GOG, but its an easy add. Most buyers of the Claw can get to this point and have the device running at its current level of completion (mid May '24). Now you are ready to game. This will be a hit or possibly miss issue for many. Surprise, not everything works well on the Claw. I still can't see FPS numbers for some reason. With M Center set to Ai Power, I jumped in. Troubleshooting hardware and software settings between device and the platform your game is on might be too much for basic users. I have games from almost every game platform because of sales and freebies. So I installed a favorite game or two from each to test the Claws ability. Most games are playable with default settings like Forza 5 and Bioshock that just played great for me. Yet, Minecraft plays, but stutters and has a sluggish right stick and likely needs more tweaks to play better. Other games I tried like Far Cry 4 start, but I can not map the controls at all (tried in game and M center). So, after the initial story cut scene finishes, I can't use any onboard controls to move anything other than look. Maybe an expert knows what I am missing over my mid-level knowledge, sure it's a simple toggle. But, I think if most of your games are Steam or Microsoft (XBOX) you will have better success than if your games plays off some of the other gaming platforms that might need more tweaks or support to run better. YMMV Overall, when compared to my other mobile device that mostly works after years of updates. The Claw is gonna take a bit more love to compete. I am seeing daily updates and I think MSI and Intel are trying to fix the hiccups and both seem invested in being in the mobile space. The Claw has superior audio with Nahimic. Screen quality and brightness is on par. Love having RGB available for late night games. There is even security with fingerprint unlocking. While MSI skipped the case, they were generous to include a massive 11+ foot long USB-C 65 watt power cord. Which will be required for the average battery life. I feel Windows is so much faster booting and could be more convenient to use. Plus its a fast system and Windows runs my other programs if I need to do a few quick non-gaming tasks. I would say it is still early for the Claw and it does need some tinkering. I will ride with MSI and see this journey out. Games are playable, but sort of selectively at the moment.

Introduction This is my review of the MSI Claw. As this is my first foray into portable PC gaming, it will be interesting to see how it handles certain games, the design choices, the engineering choices, and what MSI did to make it stand out. Going in Going in I kind of knew what to expect. This isn’t the first modern handheld gaming pc. It’s the first for MSI, and I believe that it’s the first to use Intel as it’s main graphics processor. What comes in the box? Out of the box you get the Claw, a bulky power brick/charging cable, and some inserts. That’s pretty barebones for 1st gen entry device. I’ll talk about that more in the “minor issues” category. Minor wins I do like the four quick touch buttons on either side of the screen. They serve multiple purposes depending on if you’re on the Windows desktop, or one of the game launchers. They also play the role of the “start” button on certain games. (I do wish you could map the front buttons like you can with the two on the back. Major wins The screen is pretty nice. The 120hz is a nice touch, and the 8 inch screen is enough real estate to enjoy your games without squinting. The sound is actually really nice and robust. I tested games that I have played a lot, so I could tell when something was different. Usage After charging it for it’s maiden launch, I need to install a lot of things. After all of the installs, I had about 60% battery left. That’s not awesome. The joysticks and face buttons have RGB lighting, so a nice touch there. The shoulder buttons feel okay. It seems like the LB/RB buttons were designed too long as the edges seem to sink into the top of the Claw when pressed. So after unpacking everything, a little guide suggested that I charge the unit first, and then go through all of the necessary updates. Firstly, I think it’s weird that they chose Windows 11 as their main OS. I would have liked to see their own proprietary OS that gets you straight to a launcher upon startup rather than the Windows desktop. You can have the MSI Center M launch upon start up, but it still goes through Windows 11. The Windows desktop looks so tiny on an 8 inch screen. The left joystick plays the role of the mouse cursor, and using the touch screen to hit boxes to type in user names and passwords, more of a hassle. Once you get through all of that up front nonsense, you can just use MSI’s Center M to play all of your games in a centralized hub. The battery life is almost laughable. Ater downloading and installing all of the updates, I was able to launch and play a game for maybe about 45 minutes before it went to battery saver mode. I lowered the brightness setting, and that saved some of the battery life. I tested the game first with a game that was released back in 2016. (Yes, an 8 year old game). I was able to max out the graphical settings, and it ran well for the most part. I saw a few stutters, but few and very far apart). The music and sound effects sounded great on the speakers, and the colors were vibrant. Again, I’m impressed by the screen. Next I decided to test out a game that came out two years ago. It was a very different experience. I first launched it, and I realized that when you launch a game through steam, the settings are just the way you left it in your gaming laptop, so my presets were ultra, and as soon as the game launched, it crashed. I relaunched it, and went to the settings and lowered EVERYTHING except for the framerate. The game ran well. I didn’t have any crashes. The game did not look as good as it normally would, but it’s serviceable. Finally, I tried out a game that came out last year. This is a pretty graphically intense game. The Claw had difficulty maintaining a 20 FPS on the lowest graphical presets. As long as you’re okay with some of the more modern games not being able to run at ultra or even mid level settings, then it’s not a bad handheld by any means. Minor issues I really wish this came with a carrying case. For the people that like to take their portable gaming PCs on the go, sure you do have the conventional bookbag to take it in, but for something this pricey, you want a carrying case that does a better job securing it. For its price point, it’s a shame that MSI didn’t include a carrying case. Major issues I mentioned earlier that the power brick/charging cable was bulky. It’s quite large for something that’s supposed to compliment a portable gaming device. Yes you can always not take the charging brick/cable with you, but nobody wants to be stuck somewhere without a means to recharge it. I haven’t tested any of my power banks with the claw because fear or breaking the unit prevented me. So if MSI confirms that you can use any 3rd party power bank to recharge the unit, then that’s a little better. However, consumers shouldn’t even have to think of alternate ways to recharge their newly purchased devices. I think that was an engineering misstep there. The updates… my goodness the updates. Since the OS is Windows, you go through the Windows update upon initial set up. Then once you’re in, it’s recommended that you check the Windows update just in case, and yep, it had 23 updates; of which 12 of them were Intel. I mean, it’s good that they’re supporting their products, but at the same time, this tells me that either this thing was rushed out the door, or the truly do care. I’m going with the former. I think it took a total time of about 45 minutes to install everything from initial installation to completing MSI’s updates. That doesn’t include the time needed to install Steam/Epic/whatever that will take you about another 20 minutes. So to just simply enjoy a game, it will take roughly 1 hour of installs to get going. The Claw struggled to maintain a steady framerate on anything but the lowest setting. It played some of my older games well, but we’re talking games from about 10 years ago. It lagged/stuttered at many points on three major AAA games that were released in the last two years on the lowest settings. It’s kind of hit or miss. I’m not really impressed by Intel’s GPU at this point. I wish they had done more in house testing on games to see what would be needed to at lest get games to run smoothly on mid settings. Primarily for People looking to play games from their library, and don’t mind having their games playing at mostly the lowest settings possible. I have a lot of older games in my library that I like to play every once in a while, and the Claw satisfies that itch. Probably not for Anybody that already has a gaming desktops/laptops with a high end graphics card that expects the MSI claw to match the framerate and graphics fidelity of modern gaming desktops/laptops. All in all The MSI Claw didn’t come out swinging with a lot of its capabilities. There were some drawbacks with the Intel Arc chip. I found that about 90% of the games I played on low settings were stable and very playable. The 120hz refresh is great. I hope there are more updates forthcoming. I hope Intel really pushes the envelope with what the Arc can do. I would really like to see a 2023-2024 modern AAA game running at a stable 45-60 FPS on at least mid settings. I have enjoyed my experience with the Claw so far. I would recommend the Claw.

First off, the MSI Claw A1M is my first and only Windows based handheld game console so this review is based on my experiences with the unit itself and not on how it compares to its competitors. Secondly, I’ve also been a big fan of Intel Arc graphics cards as I feel they offer great value and features at the lower and mid range graphics card tier which were ignored for too long by both AMD and nVidia. I actually have bought several Arc graphics cards (A310, A380, A770) for some of my computers. Thirdly, I have always rooted for the underdog and having another player in the graphics card market only makes things better for the consumer. As a result, I was extremely intrigued that MSI decided to use an Intel Core Ultra processor and Intel Arc graphics in their first handheld and I was very interested in seeing how it would perform. –Quick Specifications– Windows 11 Home with MSI Center M front-end Intel Core Ultra 7-155H Intel Arc Graphics with 8 Xe cores 16 GB LPDDR5-4800 Mhz memory KIOXIA 512 GB Gen4x4 2230 SSD 7-Inch Full HD 120Hz IPS touch screen display Micro SD slot USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 port Killer WiFi 7 BE1750 wireless adapter and Bluetooth 5.4 Hall Effect Joysticks and Triggers After playing around with the MSI Claw for a few days, I realize it’s basically a Windows gaming laptop in a handheld formfactor and I really like it! –Packaging, Build Quality and Ergonomics– The MSI Claw comes in a plain and colorful eco-friendly box. Inside the box is the console wrapped in a clear plastic bag, a 65W USB-C power adapter, and a quick start pamphlet. The MSI Claw feels really nice in my hands. I think it has very good ergonomics. I like the feel of all the buttons and triggers. Some people have complained about the bumper and triggers but I have no problems with them. I’m not really picky about that kind of stuff. My only complaint might be about the 4 small buttons in front. They are very small and dark so it’s hard to read the icons on the buttons to identify what they do. After doing some quick research, I discovered that the top left button is the View Button which is context dependent on the app or game currently running. The lower left button is the MSI Button which allows you to switch between Desktop Mode and the MSI Center M app. The top right button is called the Menu Button and it allows you to access the settings or Help of the currently running app or game. Finally, the bottom right button is the Quick Settings Button and this allows you to access quick settings of the handheld (such as power profiles, powering off, wifi, bluetooth etc.) There are two additional buttons on the back labeled M1 and M2 which I seem to accidentally press a little too frequently. The MSI Claw comes with a great screen that displays vivid colors and sharp clear text. Even though it has a small 7-inch screen (compared to a 27-inch monitor), I found the text to be quite readable. Games look great on it and the touch screen has worked well for me. –Setup– Setting up the handheld was somewhat complicated and a little time consuming. After charging and powering up the MSI Claw, the process is very similar to setting up a typical Windows machine. In my case I had to Update Windows 11 Update the MSI Center M application Update Bios and Intel MVA driver (from within the MSI Center M app) Then I had to set up my Steam and Xbox accounts and download and install some games. Since there is only a 512 GB internal SSD, I decided to install a Lexar 1TB micro SD card into the SD card slot for installing my games. The Lexar 1TB micro SD card came pre-formatted in exFAT but after some research I read that it was better to format SD cards using NTFS so that’s what I did. I downloaded and installed Fallout 76, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Forza: Horizon 3, Gotham Knights and StarField onto the SD card. The MSI Claw has very good wireless as I was achieving an average of 48 MB/s when downloading and installing the games. For comparison purposes, I also installed Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and Resident Evil 2 onto the internal SSD. Downloading and installation onto the internal SSD was much faster as expected. The MSI Claw places the SD card slot in a similar position as the Asus ROG Ally which has had reported problems with heat destroying the SD card so I was a little worried that the MSI Claw would have the same problem but so far I haven’t experienced any problems with my SD card. In addition, during my use of the MSI Claw, it never got really hot or uncomfortable to touch. I can feel warm air from the top vent during intense operations (like installing a game onto the internal SSD) but it never felt uncomfortable to touch. –Game Play Experience– As expected, starting up and quitting games was a little slow from the micro SD card to the point where you sometimes wonder if the game was starting up. But once running most of my games seemed to run well enough to be playable and enjoyable for me. I did encounter some stutters now and then when entering a new area or level but nothing that would ruin a game for me. I got around 14 to 40 fps in StarField and I got around 30 to 60 fps in Gotham Knights running at 1920 x 1080. Both StarField and Gotham Knights support Intel’s XeSS upscaling technology which I used to help improve performance. Both games were playable for me. Fallout 76 and Yakuza: Like a Dragon were also very playable for me. I didn’t get a chance to record their fps but they both felt very smooth to me. However, Forza: Horizon 3 would not run. It said that it detected an unsupported graphics card. Then I tried running Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and it also did not run. It said that no suitable D3D12 adapter was found. However, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy runs great on my desktop computer using an Intel Core i3-12100 and Arc A380 graphics card so the problem must be a driver issue. This same computer also could not run Forza: Horizon 3 so this game might not like Arc graphic cards.. Resident Evil 2 ran okay but I noticed some stuttering even though the FPS was fairly high (in the 70s to 120s) and running with a lower resolution. Overall, I felt that most games were playable and I had fun playing them on the MSI Claw. Out of all the games I’ve tried, I would say Gotham Knights, Fallout 76, and Yakuza: Like a Dragon ran the best. Based on my experiences with the desktop Intel Arc graphics cards, I expect that most issues will be addressed with newer drivers and firmware. Intel has been very good with driver and firmware updates on the desktop so I would expect the same with their handheld. The speakers are fantastic. They produced very clear sound with an excellent wide soundstage that seemed to produce surround effects very well. The speakers also seem to add a little rumble effect to the handheld which I found very pleasing when playing a game. I was extremely impressed with how quiet the fan was. I hardly notice the fan at all. And the MSI Claw seemed to produce very little heat while playing. I think MSI did a fantastic job with the thermals. –Battery Life– Battery life was okay. In my limited time with the MSI Claw, it seemed to drain about 20% every ½ hour while playing a game so that would seem to translate to about 2 to 3 hours per charge depending on the game. During my gameplay, I used the AI Engine profile and lowered the screen brightness and set the display refresh rate to 60 Hz to improve battery life. –Summary– Overall, I think the MSI Claw is a fun handheld game console with a lot of promise and some rough edges. There are some confusing aspects when switching between desktop mode and gamepad mode. Sometimes, when I try to use the gamepad controls to navigate or interact with the game UI, it doesn’t work and I have to resort to using the touchscreen. But after I switch back and forth between desktop and gamepad mode, using the gamepad controls will start working again. I’m still trying to figure out how things work. Also, for some reason, the fingerprint sensor hasn’t really worked for me. Every time I have turned it on, I have always had to enter my PIN to unlock the device even though I’ve set up my fingerprint on the system. I think most people would expect and prefer a more console-like experience with handhelds and might find having a Windows desktop experience confusing. Hopefully, as the software, firmware and drivers mature, a more console-like experience will be more smoothly integrated with the desktop mode. I do like having a Windows desktop mode because I think it's cool to be able to use your handheld gaming device in a pinch as a desktop computer to do work. With the MSI Claw’s Thunderbolt 4 port, all you need to do is to hook it up to a USB/Thunderbolt dock and you would have a pretty nifty desktop computer. I think the MSI Claw is a fun device but right now, it’s probably a little expensive compared to some of its competitors and there are still some rough edges to it. But I think every handheld game console out there started out the same way – they all had rough edges in the beginning and got better as time went on. The MSI Claw probably isn’t the best handheld (although there are some aspects of the MSI Claw that I think might be the best – namely ergonomics, sound, thermal design, fan noise, WIFI 7, and Thunderbolt 4) but for me it’s plenty good enough. Based on Intel’s history with their Arc desktop graphics solutions, the MSI Claw should get better with new software and drivers. I can recommend the MSI Claw with some caveats. I can recommend the MSI Claw to anyone who is interested in and likes playing around with neat gadgets and likes to try out new and different technologies.