MSI entered the handheld battle relatively early on, taking a gamble that was the complete opposite of its rival Asus. While the latter opted to work with AMD to equip its Rog Ally, the first MSI Claw relied on an Intel processor. The launch didn’t live up to the brand’s expectations, and many people scoffed at the Claw’s performance…unfairly, in our opinion. Here we’ve warned of the maturation time MSI should observe to get the best out of the Meteor Lake solution. But media time leaves no room for evolution. Gradually, through optimization and updates, the first Claw overcame its handicap…Unfortunately, to general indifference. The second round now begins with the new MSI Claw 8 AI.
At CES 2025, we were able to discover the new MSI CLAW 8 AI . With this second version, the brand returns with a more accomplished console, offering a refined design while continuing to set itself apart from the competition by relying once again on Intel. This time, the console is powered by the Lunar Lake SoC. We were eager to test this new console for two main reasons.
First of all, Lunar Lake really impressed us on many points during the various tests we carried out. Its integration was therefore promising. Lastly, to put our cards on the table, without abandoning our usual neutrality, we were still a little bitter about the way the first Claw was treated.
Prior to its official launch, members of the Overclocking.com community were able to discover the console, handle it and, above all, ask questions to the product manager at the brand’s headquarters, as well as to Intel, who was present on site. We’ll talk a little later about the feedback from this day, which was instructive in terms of usage, ergonomics and so on.
