MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ review: Great power and shocking price

It’s practically covered in ports — two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C, a Micro SD slotAnd even a 3.5 mm audio jack. It’s relatively future-proof, allowing you to upgrade an SSD (if it’s affordable again), with Support WiFi 7.

It’s all crammed into a “Void Purple” sleeve that impresses with a premium feel. A micro-etched texture provides a secure grip, while the standard Xbox control layout is within reach of most gamers, although the four menu and system buttons surrounding the screen may require an extension. The analog sticks (surrounded by LED light halos, naturally) and shoulder triggers are designed Hall effect sensors To improve long-term accuracy and flexibility and provide a good degree of resistance when pressed. The angular, chunky D-pad looks great too, though its concave shape can take some getting used to, and the glossy plastic picks up fine scratches easily.

Although it is Running Windows 11 Under the hood, full-screen Xbox Mode takes the lead, providing a unified view of installed games from any storefront. The Claw lacks a dedicated button for the Xbox system, but with two mappable back buttons, it’s easy to assign one. Since you can install any other client, I’ve designated the other one as the Steam menu button, which is useful for shortcuts when Steam’s big picture mode is turned on.

Although the claw is heavy at 785 grams, the ergonomics and weight distribution make up for that nicely. It outperforms both Steam surface and the ROG Xbox Ally Advanced haptics are also impressive, with a nice sense of feedback that accurately represents the on-screen action.

The screen is great but no surprising. The IPS panel delivers a crisp, clear image with up to 500 nits of brightness, but at this price, I’m hoping for OLED panel To make the colors really pop. The 120Hz VRR ensures at least a smooth image, and the 16:10 aspect ratio provides a slightly larger but noticeable headroom for your games.

I wasn’t initially a fan of the extended screen underneath the unit’s ‘casing’, but it’s a clever design that acts as a kickstand to allow the portable stand to stand upright. This is surprisingly useful if you want to connect the device to the output dock to power your TV. I have used OWC Thunderbolt Go Dockand although it’s not as elegant or safe as a slip-on Nintendo Switch 2 In the box, it means the claw can fit neatly into the media unit. Simply pair the gaming controller and you’re good to go Large screen games.

Arc de Triomphe

Photo: Matt Kamen

The real star of Claw is Intel’s new Arc chip, which delivers amazing results. The Arc G3 Extreme is built around it Intel Panther Lake architecturewhich offers a huge increase in performance compared to previous Lunar Lake chips. It’s much faster than any other chip in a laptop, and Intel’s XeSS—Xe Super Sampling—is the answer to Nvidia DLSS or AMD’s FSR– It can further improve performance through intelligent upgrade and Frame generation.