If someone mentioned “The Claw” was experiencing a revival, would your initial thought be the Inspector Gadget antagonist or MSI’s challenged handheld from earlier? This version, the MSI Claw A1M, faced criticism from Gizmodo and various other reviewers due to its unimpressive capabilities and controls that failed to rival other portable PCs. In my opinion, its gravest shortcoming was its pricing. This previous 7-inch iteration reached a peak cost of $800, which matches our selection for the leading Windows-based handheld: the Asus ROG Ally X. Thus, how does the revamped, larger, and more costly MSI Claw 8 AI+ compare?

Initially, the Claw 8 AI+ is priced at $900. It now needs to validate being among the priciest gaming portables released by a principal PC manufacturer. For that inflated cost, the Claw has enlarged to an 8-inch screen (equivalent to the $750 Lenovo Legion Go), features an entirely overhauled design, and integrates a novel processor, the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V. Compared to the Core Ultra 7 155H, the Intel Arc 140V graphics demonstrate considerable enhancement over its precursor. Enhancing the experience is the Claw 8’s 80 Whr battery, akin to the Ally X, paired with 32GB RAM. However, it continues to demand a significant expenditure, notably when considering that the Steam Deck OLED is $250 less while offering the identical 1 TB SSD storage.