Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
I was critical of theMSI Clawwhen I reviewed it , and I was n’t alone . MSI ’s push into the mankind ofhandheld play PCswasn’t graceful , with miss carrying out , subpar battery spirit , and plenty of computer software quirk mar the experience . With all the backlash against the equipment , it would have been easy for MSI to throw in the towel . Instead , the society ’s doing the opposite . Just six months after the original Claw was show to the existence , MSI is already working on its next translation of the Claw and is look to redress its wrongs . I got a look at it atComputex 2024 .
Considering it ’s just the second contemporaries , it might shock you to get hold out that this is n’t just a refresh of the original Claw . The Claw 8 AI+ , as it ’s called , is a stark hardware redesign that includes one ofIntel ’s new Lunar Lake CPUs . I was ask round out to the caller ’s home office in Taipei , Taiwan , to get an early look at the new equipment and babble through what it might be capable of .
An early reboot of the Claw
There ’s a lot new here . spectacles - fresh , MSI confirmed it ’s a Lunar Lake fleck , but would n’t say specifically which one . Intel itself has n’t confirmed any Lunar Lake models at this distributor point . MSI confirmed some other specs , though . you’re able to get up to 32 GB of LPDDR5x at 8.5 Gbps hurrying , as well as a 1 TB SSD . MSI says it plan on using an M.2 2280 SSD , interchangeable to the newROG Ally X , make upgrades easier . It has n’t confirmed this upgrade yet , however .
Elsewhere , MSI added duple Thunderbolt port to the top of the machine , and it redesigned the triggers and outside case . I was n’t able-bodied to in reality touch the handheld — or any Lunar Lake equipment , for that matter — but the larger body certain looks more comfy than the original ’s . It also provides room for the 8 - in screen . It ’s with child , but MSI says it ’s still a 1080p dialog box running at 120Hz .
Along with the newfangled eyeglasses , MSI says it ’s using an 80 watt - hour battery with the Claw 8 AI+ , which , again , matches the unexampled ROG Ally X. That ’s a significant start up from the 53 watt - minute battery in the archetype , which provided some fairly unsatisfying longevity .
The announcement comes just month after MSI released the Claw in the beginning , prove how much ground it ’s hear to make up in the militant world of handhelds . MSI recite me that , although this is a new contemporaries of gimmick , it ’s not giving up on the current Claw . It ’s go forward to cultivate with Intel to put out machine driver updates for the handheld , one of which give up since I ’ve been on the ground in Taipei .
The first Lunar Lake handheld
Even with that , MSI indeed has a lot of land to cover . Lunar Lake might be the key to that , however . Intel has n’t been shyabout the “ radical low-down - ability computer architecture ” that is Lunar Lake , which has a mountain of implication for a handheld gaming equipment . There ’s also the importantly improve integrated graphics , which adopt Intel ’s Battlemage computer architecture . Details are sparse , but Intel is for certain talking a large game when it comes the graphics .
Then again , we ’ve been here before . Although the original MSI Claw has some issues outside of the processor , there ’s no doubt that the Meteor Lake CPU play a significant role in its pitfalls . In retrospect , it ’s no surprisal that the Claw was the only handheld to dramatize the chips , with other devices opting for AMD .
MSI did n’t share pricing detail with me , but it said that the new gadget should plunge in September . That could change , as MSI was understandably register off a prototype when I visited its Taipei main office . Although it ’s hard to say how much the Claw 8 AI+ will be , MSI hint that a price dip on the original edition may be on the way of life soon .
I ’m happy to see MSI and Intel carry on to crusade the envelope on this exciting new pattern divisor for microcomputer play to give AMD and Asus a bit of competition .
