MSI Claw launched: First gaming handheld with Intel Core Ultra chip

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The handheld gaming PC market has never been hotter with the likes of Steam Deck OLED, ASUS ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go, and more. The MSI Claw A1M has now joined the arena, marking the company’s entry into the segment. 

While MSI teased the handheld device days before, the official announcement for the MSI Claw A1M came earlier today at the CES 2024 event. While there is an abundance of handheld gaming PCs in the market, this is the Taiwanese company’s first attempt. 

The best part is that Claw A1M is the first of its kind to be powered by an Intel Meteor Lake chip.

MSI Claw seems to have a sub-par battery life

The MSI Claw A1M carries an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor under the hood, allowing the small handheld to use the chip maker’s XeSS technology.

Intel’s XeSS technology employs AI upscaling to increase frames per second (FPS) on your games.

The rest of the specs are also pretty impressive. The display is said to be a 7-inch 1080p screen with a 120Hz refresh rate – a step higher than Steam Deck OLED’s 1280×800 screen. 

However, MSI hasn’t mentioned whether Claw A1M can dock like the Steam Deck or reach up to 4K resolution at 120Hz or 8K at 60Hz when docked.

The device is, of course, running Windows 11, paired with 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM, Intel Arc Graphics, storage slot, speakers, USB-C port, and microSD card reader. 

In terms of the battery, the MSI Claw A1M doesn’t offer anything groundbreaking. According to the company, the handheld offers a 53Whr battery, offering around two hours of gameplay time under full load. 

In contrast, Steam Deck OLED‘s 50Whr battery delivers around 3-12 hours of gameplay time. 

Unfortunately, MSI hasn’t provided Claw A1M’s pricing or availability. We will update our article as soon as we receive any info. 

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