MSI’s Claw handhelds get an Intel Lunar Lake do-over with a $799 starting price

MSI has officially announced its next crack at handheld gaming is here with the Lunar Lake-powered MSI Claw 7 AI Plus and MSI Claw 8 AI Plus. The two Windows-based handhelds come with 32GB of RAM and larger batteries than their predecessors. They release on December 25th, but you can preorder them now, starting at $799 for the Claw 7 and $899 for the Claw 8.

When the original MSI Claw shipped last spring, MSI needed to address battery life and performance, both of which were both sticking points in Sean Hollister’s Verge review. The Claw 8 brings more significant changes here; its 80-watt-hour battery is a big jump over the original model’s 53 watt hours. The Claw 7 has a much smaller increase at 54.5 watt hours. The Claw 8 also has an “easy access” SSD storage slot that the Claw 7 lacks.

Both devices have a 120Hz variable refresh rate LCD display, but the Claw 8’s 8-inch screen is slightly higher resolution (1920 x 1200) than the Claw 7’s 7-inch one (1920 x 1080). Performance-wise, MSI claims the handhelds will have a 113 percent higher peak FPS and 20 percent higher average FPS than its competitors “under identical power conditions.” MSI doesn’t say which competitors it’s referring to, but in Sean’s review, the previous model was outdone by the Steam Deck OLED, Asus ROG Ally Z1E, and the Lenovo Legion Go.

Image: MSI

Other changes to both handhelds include redesigned Hall effects sticks and triggers, and updated bumpers and d-pad. MSI also added a second Thunderbolt 4 port to each one’s complement of I / O ports that includes an audio jack and a microSD card reader.