MSI reveals two new Claw handhelds powered by Lunar Lake chips

MSI has now officially revealed its latest gaming handhelds, the MSI Claw 8 AI+ and the MSI Claw 7 AI+, both of which are powered by Intel’s Lunar Lake chips. While the Claw 8 AI+ does look a little different from the original model, the Claw 7 AI+ looks almost identical. The refreshed handheld gaming PCs are slated to potentially boost MSI’s presence in the market, which was met with a little less fanfare compared to competing products.

Mostly due to the original Claw’s high price tag, overall performance, and less-than-ideal battery life. MSI is hoping to capture more of the market with these new devices, and considering some of the specs, it might do just that. MSI has also made some ergonomic design changes that the company says will improve the comfort and usability of the device.

Both are reportedly up for pre-order and it looks like they’ll be available at Best Buy. At the moment, however, both are also listed as out of stock. So it isn’t clear if the stock has really been depleted or if the pre-orders just aren’t live yet.

Both new MSI Claw models will feature Lunar Lake chips plus a huge RAM boost

While we’d hesitate to call either of these the MSI Claw 2, they’re slightly more than just refreshed variants of the original. They’re using completely new APUs from Intel, this time bumping to the Lunar Lake Intel Core Ultra 7 CPU and Intel Arc 140V GPU.

Each model also comes with 32GB of RAM, which is significantly more than the 24GB you get with the ASUS ROG Ally X. There are more similarities with the ROG Ally X as well.

For instance, the Claw 8 AI+ comes with an 80 Wh battery. Matching that of the ROG Ally X, and far surpassing the original Claw A1M model that only had a 53 Wh battery. This should hopefully boost the battery life of the new Claw 8 to match what ASUS and Valve are producing with the ROG Ally X and Steam Deck.

Even the Claw 7 AI+ comes with a 54.5 Wh battery. Additionally, MSI has updated the ergonomics a bit. The company says that its redesigned sticks, bumpers, d-pad, and hall effect triggers on the Claw 8 AI+ “offer users a smoother and more comfortable experience.”

The Claw 8 AI+ has an easy-access SSD slot, both models launch this month

One thing that sets the Claw 8 AI+ apart from MSI’s new smaller model is the SSD storage. It can come with up to 1TB but it also has an easy-access SSD storage slot according to MSI’s spec sheet. So it sounds like you’ll be able to easily upgrade or swap out the SSD. This is a feature exclusive to the larger model as the Claw 7 AI+ doesn’t include it, and instead comes with just 512GB. That being said, both models support microSD cards for expanded storage.

The Claw 8 AI+ and the Claw 7 AI+ will be released on December 25.

MSI Claw 8 AI+ – Buy at Best Buy

MSI Claw 7 AI+ – Buy at Best Buy