MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ Review: The Fastest PC Handheld, and $1,799.99 Is the Price of Admission
Intel's Arc G3 Extreme makes the Claw 8 EX AI+ the quickest x86 handheld tested so far, and it sips power at low wattages. It is also heavy, short on battery at full tilt, and $800 above the ROG Xbox Ally X.
The verdict
Yes, the Claw 8 EX AI+ is the fastest handheld PC we can point to: independent tests show it matching AMD's Z2 Extreme at 17W against 35W, and leading by 20 to 30 fps at 1200p. It is also heavy, burns through its 80Wh battery in about three hours at full power, and costs $800 more than the ROG Xbox Ally X. Buy it only if speed is the whole point.
Best forEnthusiasts who want the fastest handheld and will pay for it
What we liked
- Arc G3 Extreme matches AMD's Z2 Extreme at 17W against 35W across 36 games, per BabelTech
- Leads rivals by 20 to over 30 fps at 800p and 1200p in Tom's Hardware testing
- Hall-effect sticks and triggers, Thunderbolt 4 on both USB-C ports and Wi-Fi 7
- 80Wh battery, 32GB of LPDDR5X and a 1TB SSD in the $1,799.99 configuration
- Endurance mode stretches play to about five hours at 30 to 40 fps
What we did not
- $1,799.99 is $800 above the ROG Xbox Ally X, which is plenty for most games
- Heavy compared with other handhelds, and tiring in long sessions
- About three hours of battery at maximum settings, per Comicbook.com
- No HDR support, and Hall-effect sensors use more power than newer TMR ones
Handheld PCs have spent two years arguing about which AMD chip is best. The MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ ends that argument by leaving AMD for Intel, and the early results are not close. The catch sits on the price tag.
Why this chip matters
The Claw 8 EX AI+ runs Intel's Arc G3 Extreme, a Panther Lake part built for handhelds. HotHardware lists two Cougar Cove performance cores, eight Darkmont efficiency cores, four low-power cores and a GPU with 12 Xe3 cores at up to 2.3 GHz. Memory is 32GB of LPDDR5X-8533 on the $1,799.99 model we are discussing, with a 1TB SSD.
All of that is useful, but one number tells the story. BabelTech Reviews measured the Arc G3 Extreme at 17 watts against AMD's Z2 Extreme at 35 watts, using the Z2 Extreme results from the ROG Xbox Ally X, across 36 games. The geomean came out dead even at 1.005x. In their words, that is a 2x performance-per-watt gain.
How much faster is it?
A lot, at the same power and more so at the wall. Tom's Hardware reported leads of 20 to over 30 fps over rivals at both 800p and 1200p. In Forza Horizon 6, it hovered around 100 fps at 800p and held 72 to 76 fps at 1200p, depending on whether it was plugged in. Metro Exodus averaged close to 70 fps.
Against the Steam Deck, BabelTech says the gap is "multigenerational," and with upscaling and frame generation the Claw can run 100 to 200% ahead. That sounds like marketing, but it comes from a third party with a benchmark table. For a story-driven game at high settings, this is the first handheld that does not make you pick between resolution and frame rate.
What you give up for it
Weight is the first cost. HotHardware calls the Claw "significant heft versus other handhelds," and it lists the weakness right next to the price. Heft matters more than a spec sheet admits, because a handheld lives in your hands for hours rather than minutes. Check the weight against what you carry now before you commit.
Specs
- Chip
- Intel Arc G3 Extreme (Panther Lake)
- CPU cores
- 2 P-cores, 8 E-cores, 4 LP E-cores
- GPU
- 12 Xe3 cores, up to 2.3 GHz
- Memory
- 32GB LPDDR5X-8533
- Storage
- 1TB SSD plus SD Express slot
- Display
- 8-inch IPS, 120 Hz, 1200p, VRR
- Battery
- 80Wh
- Connectivity
- 2x Thunderbolt 4, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0
- Controls
- Hall-effect sticks and triggers
- Price
- $1,799.99
