Unboxing and Testing the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+

So first off, no blog post will  be worth the sort of exposure a Youtube unboxing and testing can offer, but a blog post with no sponsorship and just an enthusiast's opinions can help contextualize those Youtube guys in their reviews. For the record, here are the three Youtube videos I most reccommend for figuring out what the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ is all about:

Haviq Tech compares the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ to the MSI Claw 8 AI+

128KB goes over what to do when you get the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+

Retro Game Corps' Exaustingly In-Depth Review

Right off the bat the biggest issue with the MSI Claw EX (henceforth I'll drop the 8 AI+ part) is it's price. At an MSRP of $1799 this machine is less expensive than the Legion Go 2 (which currently retails for $1999) but more expensive than the other two closest competitors, being the Xbox Asus Rog Ally X (or it's fancier X20 edition) at $999 and $1299 respectively, and the Acer Predator Atlas 8 which I think is selling for $1300 but also has lower specs in RAM and storage. The Claw EX predecessor (MSI Claw 8 AI+) is also still around $1150 currently, offering the last generation of intel chips, which still provide (imo) the best overall performance of last year's chipsets.

Bottom line: you could buy a decent laptop for about the same price as this machine, so if you are considering paying that much cash it means you are seriously interested in the specific qualities a handheld form factor offers. 

As a handheld, this device feels like the MSI designers took a close look at all the previous handhelds and worked out the best way to compete with the comfortable grip of the Xbox Rog Ally X while also avoiding the pitfalls of the very heavy Legion Go 2 and also the slightly akward long-term play prospects of their prior MSI Claw 8 AI+, which could be rough to hold for more than an hour at a time (I'd start to get a rictus grip after a while with it, which is rough as it's my favorite handheld out of 2025). 

The larger screen projects slightly below where the grips rest (see pic above), but the result is the handgrips for the control sides are extremely comfortable. They almost border on slightly too large, but not really....I found myself far preferring the Claw EX in terms of its grip and overall comfort. It is also not too heavy, at least not compared to the competition. While I think the Xbox Rog Ally X is still slightly more comfortable, the Claw EX comes in a very close second, and takes first due to being slightly lighter weight in feel.

Missing from the Claw EX (and most other handhelds) is a kickstand. @MSI add a kickstand next time, it would be appreciated. Nintendo figured this out a long time ago. The Claw EX will stand upright, but it looks like its going to fall down face forward if you bump the table.

The screen is a decent IPS screen at at19:10 ratio and it looks fine to me. I do get that OLED is a very nice screen to have, but I have not found it to be amazing enough to justify noticeable price hikes. That said....I think if the Claw EX had an OLED screen and rested at this price many people would be a bit more forgiving of the price. For comparison, the Legion Go 2's OLED screen is still top dog in this category of comparison.

Something I didn't realize until getting it is that the Claw EX's MicroSD slot supports MicroSD Express cards, which became normalized by the Switch 2 and are noticeably better for running games from. I had a spare 512GB MicroSD Express card available and the difference is light night and day in terms of its load speeds. The Express cards tend to be more expensive, and good luck finding a 1TB card, but this is a feature I wish all the other handhelds supported already, so well worth it.

Of the current handhelds, only the MSI Claw EX and the Acer Predator Atlas 8 offer the new Intel G3 Extreme chipsets, which are the main selling point of this new generation of handheld devices. The specs suggest (based on Youtube reviewers who are better at analysing this stuff than me) an average of 50-56% performance improvement, which may or may not sound impressive to you, but I can state that I have been quite impressed with the Claw EX after firing up several games that I knew had performance issues on older handhelds to see how well the new machine could handle them. One game in particular, Cronos: The New Dawn, is rather notorious for its performance issues on handhelds (from my personal experience), with the best performance ironically being on the Legion Go S (a SteamOS build), and being wildly harder to run well on every other gadget without a lot of tweaking or compromises. It actually runs at 1080p in medium or high settings quite well on the Claw EX, which was a pleasant surprise. 

Another game I tried is Deadzone Rogue, my go-to handheld shooter for the last year and a half. It runs on everything quite well, but the degree to which it runs well and the settings it defaults to can vary wildly. The Claw EX is the first one I was able to run on 1080p and high resolution with uncapped framerate, and it felt natural. 

Diablo IV is another go-to I love to check out, primarily because it runs on anything (Steam Deck runs Diablo IV just fine), but also the degree to which it can be customized is par for the course with Blizzard excellence, as Blizzard likes making sure all of its games run on as many devices as possible. Diablo IV on the Claw EX runs on high settings at full resolution, and with XeSS features turned on its comparable to desktop performance in feel, so I am really pleased with it.

One game which continues to cause issues for all handhelds, though perhaps due to the fact that its just too darned fast, is Star Wars Galactic Racer. While I found it the best overall performance on the Claw EX, this game still (for me, at least) requires a large screen TV to actually enjoy properly....the racers just go too fast and its too easy to miss tiny details and wipe out when playing on a handheld. Scrib Doon!

During testing I noticed that this thing can get hot, and can spew out a lot of hot air. It's quieter than the Legion series devices, but definitely generates some heat and wind.

I've got more testing to do, but so far my go-to games are all working great on the new device. Is the performance worth $1800 style great? Well, that's a good question. I am still of the opinion that if all you want out of a handheld is a handful of decent games to play, optimized for a handheld experience, and you don't need an expensive gadget to do it, then you might as well get a Switch 2. If you can get a Steam Deck for its old price, I also suggest that would be fine, but to be fair the Steam Deck is starting to look long in the tooth. In fact, if you were to upgrade to the Claw EX from a Steam Deck, then the performance jump will be startling....the Claw EX eats the Steam Deck's lunch and then beats it up, easily. 

However, if you have an existing device such as the prior Claw 8 AI+, Legion Go S or Legion Go 2, any of the Rog Allys, or such: then the value added proposition of upgrading at the $1800 price is a debate you should have with yourself. Do you have the money lying around, consider yourself an enthusiast, and really like being on the cutting edge? Then maybe, yeah, this is a good proposition. I know that US release of the Acer Predator Atlas 8 comes with fewer frills (512GB storage vs. 1 TB), and I believe it also comes with 24GB RAM rather than 32GB, but maybe you don't have the ability to fill up a whole TB and still be wishing you had 3 more TB on board like I do, so if that's the case, maybe take a look at Acer's device.

For me, this device is so good that I now think I can safely start to trim my collection down. Indeed, if I want to look at this from the angle of "one handheld to rule them all," I think the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ is totally it for me. 

Handheld Gaming Gets Worse!!!

 128KB is a great channel of two brits who like to talk handhelds and they keep pretty up to date on news in this niche industry. Unfortunately it looks like not only is the Legion Go 2 pricing at $2,000 or more now, but the Legion Go S series has exploded in price, too.

So, as an addendum to my last post, I want to declare that you should, if you are keen on handheld gaming, restrict your consideration to the Nintendo Switch 2  or one of the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally models (before they go up in price, too!) 

I do still stand by my MSI Claw 8 AI+ purchase, but concede even it is both going up a bit in price (not as badly as the Legion Gos are, though) and also somewhat hard to find. So as such....I declare victory as a tie between the Switch 2 and the Xbox Ally X (and base model), which I suspect are only remaining cheap right now because ASUS produced a very large number of them before the RAM and chip prices skyrocketed. 

State of Handheld Gaming in April 2026

Another short blog post, but I wanted to follow-up on my January reviews of the various handheld gaming devices out there. When I wrapped my evaluation At the end of January I sort of settled on these evaluation: The Xbox ROG Ally X was a decent $1,000 handheld but if you could afford the extra to get a Legion Go 2 it would be the superior experience. I loved the MSI Claw 8 AI+ and also found the Xbox ROG Ally Base Model to be a decent budget entry, and I also suggested that the Steam OS edition of the Legion Go S with the Z1 Extreme Processor was probably all anyone really needed, especially if you could find it on sale. So....semi noncommital on any specific direction other than to point out that the cheapest two options (Steam Deck and Switch 2) are probably all anyone really needs for some occasional on-the-go gaming.

So now cut to April 2026, prices are soaring, the RAM market is causing shockwaves in lower cost products, Lenovo is allegedly doing a terrible job of rolling out driver updates for its Windows-based products, and I just learned that the Legion Go 2 is now retailing in the US fro $1849 if you can even find it. WTF

So! As a brief public service message, I would suggest that if you are interested in handheld gaming right now and have not yet bought in, that you consider one of these options:

Are you a casual handheld gamer? Is the goal to bring it along on trips or use as a second device in the house to play games when the TV is occupied or you don't feel like sitting at a desktop terminal? Then I would suggest that (in order of price point) you consider these options:

Switch 2 - get one before it goes up in price! Still MSRP $450 right now. Sure you have to exist within Nintendo's walled garden, but these days that's not much of a problem as its stacked with good stuff.

Xbox ROG Ally base model - it really is a nice little device, even with Windows, just make sure to keep it updated on drivers and bios updates. Best Buy has itr for $549 right now.

Steam Deck - if you can find one, it's still worth it, but be aware its getting long in the tooth and you will not be playing many current AAA titles on it.

Legion Go S Steam OS edition - If you can find the Z1 Extreme version on sale, ignore all of the above suggestions and just get this. I have not rried the Z2 chip version but it is cheaper and online reviewers suggest it works well, so that might be an option given its low price.

Okay, maybe you are more of an enthusiast, and you are willing to pay extra for a more premium experience? Well, here's my suggestions:

MSI Claw 8 AI+ - you can find one for cheap on the used market, and it's currently retailing at around $1150 but I have seen it on Ebay for half that price. It's proven to be my most consistently reliable handheld in terms of performance to cost, and has the best sound system. If someone (say, a wife or something) were to force me to dump all my handhelds except one, this is the device I would keep.

The Xbox ROG Ally X - it's holding steady at $1000 MSRP and its performance is great, but I do run into lots of bugs and gave up on the Windows Full Screen Experience which was just too annoying, buggy and unreliable for me. It's also almost twice the cost of the base model which may be slower but runs most stuff just fine.

Legion Go S - Despite a slightly older Z1 Extreme Chip, this Steam  OS edition is honestly superior in every way imaginable, especially if you can find it on a good sale. It seems to run for around $900 MSRP but can be found on sale occasionally for less than $700. I still think I could have just stuck with this as my Steam Deck replacement and not bought any of the other devices and I'd be happy.

Is there anything I wouldn't reccommend now? Well, I wouldn't suggest the Legion Go S Windows edition unless you really want to play Destiny 2 or something on it. I would advise that the Legion Go 2 is, while the best of the lot, simply not worth the current prices its going for right now, and Lenovo needs to step up support for drivers more. Stay away from the other MSI Claw models; I can't really comment on the MSI Claw A8 series, which uses the Z2 Extreme drivers instead of Intel, but the others are reportedly subpar in design or out of date (though I've seen the A1M sell for under $400 new online which does make it tempting to pick up just to see how it fares).  I also think that the Steam Deck is now just old enough to be better for those who love Linux gaming and don't mind sticking to their older portfolio of games, but if you want to play something new, stay away from it. This is based on my Steam Deck OLED model, which also gives me lots of hardware issues these days, annoying given I've only had it for about two and half years now.