Now that CES 2024 is in full swing, we finally get to see all the awesome stuff companies have in development or about to release. Ahead of the expo, we learned that MSI was about to pick a fight with Valve, ASUS, and Lenovo in the handheld gaming space. Strangely enough, we were already expecting something like but not the name “Claw.”
So far, many journalists have been lucky enough to get some hands-on time with the device and share some interesting insights about the portable Windows gaming PC. The Taiwanese computer hardware company opted to steer the Claw’s design toward a more conventional form factor, unlike Lenovo.
Surprisingly, somehow resembles an ROG Ally albeit a little wider to enhance grip. As you can see there’s nothing too fancy here but details might be subject to more tweaks in the months to follow given the units available were flagged as engineering samples.
Even the control layout seems lifted straight out of ASUS’ playbook. We have RGB LED ring lights surrounding the offset analog joysticks, XBOX face buttons, a concave D-pad, and front-firing stereo speakers. Some even pointed out the same microSD slot placement close to a vent. At the rear of the device are two extra buttons that are easier to actuate.
We then have a 7″ full-HD IPS touch display with a 120 Hz refresh rate. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the MSI Claw is its use of an Intel Core Ultra chip instead of AMD’s custom silicon. So far, it’s still too early to tell if it can outperform rival systems and last longer on a single charge as well. There is no official release date yet, but it’s likely dropping in 2024.
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Images courtesy of MSI
