The MSI Claw is a Mess: Gaming Handheld Can't Compete | Review & Benchmarks

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The MSI Claw A1M is a mystery of a handheld gaming device: We can't figure out why they'd make it the way they did. Maybe there's Intel marketing fund involved, but either way, it's just not competitive at its $800 -- or even $700 -- price point against the competition. Compared to the ASUS ROG Ally Z1 Extreme, Z1 Non-Extreme, Lenovo Legion Go, and Steam Deck LCD & OLED, the Claw is hamstrung in either value or performance, and often both. This benchmark looks at some of the best handheld gaming PCs right now, and almost all of those feature AMD's Z1 Extreme or 7840U (or 8840U) variants, which are mostly the same parts. The MSI Claw stands apart for silicon variety with an Intel Ultra solution, like the 155H in ours, but it has to be good to be worth that variety.

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RELATED PRODUCTS [Affiliate Links]

MSI Claw A1M 155H on Best Buy: https://howl.me/cl2VC5bVwGQ
Lenovo Legion Go on Lenovo site: https://howl.me/clKICy2sNyQ
ASUS ROG Ally (Non-Extreme and Extreme) on Best Buy: https://howl.me/clKIJZoW5cS
JS Aux Transparent Steam Deck Shell on Amazon: https://geni.us/zsE1

RELATED PRODUCTS (not affiliate links)

Steam Deck OLED & LCD on Valve's store: https://store.steampowered.com/steamd...

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - MSI's Flawed Claw A1M
01:44 - Very Familiar to the ASUS ROG Ally Z1
03:19 - Pricing Comparison: Claw vs. Legion Go, Steam Deck, Ally
05:41 - Complete Mess of Software
09:53 - But it has "AI!"
10:49 - More Software Mess & BIOS
12:09 - Controls, Screen, & Ally Issues
13:26 - MSI Claw Hardware Comparison
15:19 - NEW Benchmark: Handheld Battery Life vs. FPS Comparison
17:57 - 2D Gaming Battery Life Comparison: Deck, Ally, Claw, Go
19:04 - Gaming Benchmark Methodology & Settings
20:01 - Resident Evil 4 Gaming Benchmarks
20:50 - Absolutely Terrible Frametime Pacing on MSI Claw A1M
21:29 - 1080p Resident Evil 4 Benchmarks
22:01 - Cyberpunk Benchmarks
24:06 - 1080p Cyberpunk Benchmarks
24:35 - F1 2023 Benchmarks (720p)
25:05 - RDR2 Benchmarks (720p & 1080p)
25:34 - Baldur's Gate 3 & Dying Light 2 Tests
26:11 - Charge Speed Benchmarks (Handheld Gaming PCs)
27:11 - Thermal Throttling Under CPU Load
28:47 - Conclusion: Best Handheld Gaming PCs

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Steve Burke: Host, Writing, Testing, Video Editing
Patrick Lathan: Testing, Writing
Vitalii Makhnovets: Camera
Tim Phetdara: Camera, Video Editing