MSI Claw first look review! Brilliant or broken?

First look review of the MSi Claw Ultra 7. curious about the claw? today we will go through some initial testing, do a device overview, and early comparison against a few other devices. More in depth comparisons planned for the future.
00:00 unboxing
00:31 First pickup
01:23 Specs
02:03 weight comparison
02:27 size comparison
04:51 Vs Ally
07:25 Screen and sound
08:50 Game performance
11:29 Likes and dislikes
13:23 recommendation
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
uppbeat.io/t/paul-yudin/summe...
#msi #msiclaw #legiongo #gaming #handheld #handheldgaming #handheldgaming #rogally #steamdeck #onexfly #onexplayer #pcgaming

[@aquinoj99]

The MSI Flaw. Hope they sort it out with updates. Their presence is good for the PC handheld market. The more options the better.

[@okestgamer]

Same here, I definitely don't hope for devices to fail, I hope they can sort it out with drivers and device settings (maybe vram adjustments)

[@JadieI]

Couldn't have said it better I really hope that driver updates help it out I was really excited for it but as is rn it's kind of disappointing.

[@sly2792004]

Problem is intel arc gpu

[@Cybersir3n]

I’m so glad I pulled the trigger on the legion go. Such an amazing screen and performance.

[@okestgamer]

Yeah I really like mine as well

[@absurdh3ro]

Same legion go sold me as a nintendo switch ultra.

[@Gaming_for_insight]

Great to see you got your video out! Another informative one, especially with the conclusions you reached!

[@okestgamer]

Thanks man, I'm still holding onto my hopium

[@DeckWizard]

Awesome video, thank you for your testing OK!

[@okestgamer]

Thanks man, it's been fun. Wanting to do some comparisons soon

[@okestgamer]

chapters now fixed! previously were not working apologies for the temporary inconvenience.

[@franzlaman]

Thanks again for the great overview, I think im good with my Ally, the AMD chipset seems to be tried and true, my ally is running great , do you think the intel processor is causing the issues with gameplay

[@okestgamer]

No problem man, yeah I think you made the right call on getting an ally, that or the legion go and onexfly are good options

[@l0rdpelvis]

It's the arc graphics. They're just immature.

[@micholiotti8889]

Thanks for the video, I was pretty curious about this one. Not planning on getting it, but the Intel alternative piqued my interest. So far, in your opinion, wich is the best handheld? You tried most of 'em so I'd like to know your considerations.

[@okestgamer]

Currently my favorite is the onexfly

[@micholiotti8889]

@@okestgamer Nice. Had a hunch it wasn't the Claw XD

[@okestgamer]

After a week with it, I’m about to smack it lol

[@micholiotti8889]

@@okestgamer XD XD XD maybe a refund is an option, hoping they won't give you a coupon for the Claw 2 for the price.

[@rossihringer7474]

I have the steam deck, Rog ally, and legion go. I dont think any are great performers. Too hear that the MSI claw is no better off is very disappointing 😕. I think I can hold off buying this one. The Legion Go's screen and controls make it my go-to but still underpowered.

[@okestgamer]

Yeah this needs more time to improve

[@tebo2286]

I have watched other reviews of this device, and this has to be the most disappointing device to ever drop. Personally, I'm tired of manufacturers rushing to the market with half-baked products and expecting us consumers to bear with them while they sort out their mess with OTA updates and drivers over time. Valve, Asus, and Lenovo are equally guilty of this practice. Why can't we get a plug-and-play read device from the get-go? That's my 1-minute rant regarding this product. Great product review though

[@okestgamer]

I agree that sometimes devices launch a little early. Asus and Lenovo's launches were much smoother than this in my opinion. While they had issues, it was not at this level.

[@denniia]

While it has flaws , definitly interested in it , i might pull the trigger and buy it mostly because of the CPU and Support for Thunderbolt for external GPUs , I love the ROG ally but XG mobile here where i live cost like close to 2 grand. As for the MSI claw i already have an Old Thunderbolt 3 enclosure where i can put my own PSU and GPU , so to me Claw seems more like the way to go. Hopefully it gets better with updates like every other handhelds before it.

[@okestgamer]

I will probably do a comparison for egpu performance at some point. My other devices seemed to handle my egpu a little better. I'll need to actually test closer to verify

[@denniia]

@@okestgamer i would actualy love to see that, cause i've seen many reviews , but everyone seems to forget it has thunderbolt , which in my opinion is a huge + , sad its not Thunderbolt 5 but better having it than not!

[@jackykwan2580]

The claw at current state is pretty bad why would you purchase it over legion go that can also plug into egpu.

[@denniia]

@@jackykwan2580 i tried the legion go its cool but too chunky for me , and i bought the steam deck on release and if people remember that was also a Mess , MSI Claw looks nice, has a REALLY Good Cpu to go with it , And from what people been saying its quite comfortable. Imma be honest idk why you would care its my money not yours lol if i wanna waste it on a *failed* thats up to me.

[@SatishKumar-qi8mf]

What about the comparison with Legion Go?

[@okestgamer]

Planning to do some more targeted videos soon. Performance is between 40-80% better on legion Go on a lot of games I've tested

[@vicious12394]

I wonder if resizable bar is enabled in bios

[@okestgamer]

I would need to double check

[@lulunula]

It’s a shame because I actually do love the way it looks!

[@okestgamer]

Yeah it's very unfortunate

[@Roxas_DM]

I feel exactly the same way!

[@AnotherRichEXP]

Wow it's bad. And I thought VRR was supposed to help with those stutters and hiccups!

[@okestgamer]

Yeah not sure how much it can help when the fps is at 30 tbh

[@AnotherRichEXP]

@okestgamer yea I got a chance to see one today at work and it was pretty unstable. I'm honestly surprised they would even release it in this state. Even when it was getting healthy fps it would still stutter here and there. I can see alot of returns happening for this thing.

[@nitmare64]

You came through, you the best! Also, they says its best to do benchmarks with the device unplugged. Some bug, just like all the drivers. Buggy, lol

[@okestgamer]

I had mixed results. At first unplugged worked better, later on plugged in gave better performance. Basically roll a dice and see which works better that session

[@nitmare64]

@@okestgamer Seems like a huge miss for Intel and MSI, I had pre ordered the onexplayer x1 but with the performance of this chipset, I ended up canceling it.

[@okestgamer]

@@nitmare64 I'm sure they will also make an AMD version of it

[@nitmare64]

@@okestgamer I just got the onexplayer 2 pro with the 8840U. I checked videos and it’s a 5 to 10fps increase over the 7840u

[@liviup6660]

Is this what msi means by saying : TAKE YOUR GAMING TO THE NEXT LEVEL?????😂

[@okestgamer]

Honestly, I'm surprised in launched in this state. Needs a lot of work

[@liviup6660]

@@okestgamer imagine for people that don't know how to use a pc.....to fix this crap....they will return it immediately 😂😂😂

[@okestgamer]

@@liviup6660 I imagine there will be many returns, I fought to get it working how it did for the video. Starfield on the first few tests was at 5 fps

[@garys6898]

It's overpriced

[@ryuno2097]

Gulps 😶

[@okestgamer]

Yes I paid a lot for it, but now I can test for everyone.

[@garys6898]

@@okestgamer ok, be honest and tell everybody it's overpriced crap

[@MicaelAzevedo]

​@@okestgamer thank you! But better return that krap

[@okestgamer]

@@garys6898 oh I did recommend to hold off in my conclusion. Definitely not a good price to performance at the moment.

[@Gh0styGames]

Another one x fly W🎉

[@okestgamer]

Still a great device

[@richieb9675]

Think its too early for a review, lets wait what MSI brings to the table tomorrow

[@okestgamer]

It's my first look review, I'm planning to do updated reviews as time goes along. My hope is that this review becomes irrelevant

[@richieb9675]

@@okestgamer its a great first look 👌thanks allot keeping us updated on discord as well 👍

[@M4rio21]

This would have been great if it was released two years ago.

[@okestgamer]

Yeah, it would probably be a tough sell even then. The 6800 I'm pretty sure will outperform it.

[@LesGypsyFox]

No fps test front of rog ally 😢

[@okestgamer]

Planning some more targeted videos for those. I've learned from previous reviews that if they are too long people don't watch them sadly.

[@thegrindizreal5896]

Ive seen another review that says it performs better without power plugged in

[@okestgamer]

I had that experience for a bit. It's very odd, when I first tried it that was the case, then later on it performed better on power. Starfield also was 5 fps for the first few tests. Very inconsistent

[@thegrindizreal5896]

@okestgamer I own rog an the deck and was really considering buying the msi tbh. I'm hopeing some driver updates could make this device more competitive an worth buying since its in early release but atm its seems like im best to hold back an see how things go with Intel, plus asus need the competition otherwise rog ally v2s just going to be an oled with better battery 😆 . Intel I5 I can see being the better one for gameing compared to the i7 version due to too many cores possibly.

[@milo_andrs]

Oh well. I was ready to buy because of it not being AMD but looks like Intel still has a lot of ground to cover.

[@okestgamer]

Yeah it's going to need some time

[@LeeroyJanky]

From my experience with an MSI laptop and an ROG laptop, this certainly tracks 😅

[@okestgamer]

My previous MSI was pretty good

[@doolittle_]

Ouch. "I really like the speakers." That "speaks" volumes.

[@okestgamer]

Lmao underrated comment. They really are good though.

[@Andy-xn1lz]

Every device so far has brought something new to the table. The MSI feels more like a copy. Those bezels are a step too far back for me and I cannot see a reason to buy the Claw over anything that is already on the market

[@okestgamer]

Currently any of the amd chips would be an upgrade

[@Xarviz]

MSI copied something thats nearly a year old, discounted and still is the much better pick. Aside the color there is not a single thing to go qith MSI over Asus or even Lenovo.

[@cobra2994]

Intel just needs a lot of work with their gpus and integrated graphics even on the laptops with the ultra 9 it still was not doing as good or not even close to amd 780m just straight facts. This needs to be priced at 399 for ultra 5 and ultra 7 needs to be 499 to compete or to even be considered

[@okestgamer]

I'm hoping the drivers get better sooner than later

[@cobra2994]

@@okestgamer they need too it’s not looking good at all for this release

[@DMaskedBoyGaming]

No, that venting on MSI is only 2 triangle at the top at the very left and right. The rest are just cosmetics

[@okestgamer]

Ah I'll take a look from the inside when I open it up again

[@koammudo43]

I f ing love my steam deck best purchase ever I should have gotten it two yrs ago lol

[@okestgamer]

Glad you're enjoying it man, it's a nice device

[@ryuno2097]

Why does the box look like some Polystation box. 😂

[@okestgamer]

It's pretty tiny compared to the Lenovo 'Leg' but a little bigger than ally.

[@cqllel5186]

MSi CLAW at 30W can't even match Steam Deck OLED at 15W (or sometimes less) Steam Deck/OLED alrdy out performs other PC handhelds at 15W or less (varies with games tho). MSi CLAW is just an extreme example of utter incompetence. I'd expect nothing more from "Midtel"

[@okestgamer]

Some of the 7840 devices can beat the deck at 15w, but yeah depends on the game. This one needs some serious work to get sorted.

[@gamers-generation]

Black Panther says this is NOT OK.

[@okestgamer]

My wallet has agreed. I'll hold onto hope for now for improvements

[@Soursickness94]

I think I’ll just stick with my Legion Go

[@okestgamer]

Legion Go is a solid device

[@cppctek]

The price to performance is no okest with me

[@okestgamer]

I agree haha

[@Gh0styGames]

NoKest 😵

[@optimalbonkerz]

Visually it is WAY nicer than the ROG ally

[@okestgamer]

I do like the black handhelds. It just needs to perform better to be worth it at the moment

[@jimpaolo123]

The charger is too big like a gaming laptop compared to other handhelds like that has GAN chargers of ROG ally, steam deck and AOKZOE. Also the pricing is not friendly and the performance is a bit lower compared to ROG ally.

[@okestgamer]

It definitely needs some improvements. The Intel chip is just not performing

[@jimpaolo123]

@@okestgamer steam deck outperforms the MSI Claw literally. 🤧

[@okestgamer]

@@jimpaolo123 yeah that’s how you know it’s rough haha. My GPD Win 3 is neck and neck with the claw in some games. That has an Intel 1195

[@jimpaolo123]

@@okestgamer it proves at all that intel can't compete for the performance with the AMD drivers. 🤣

[@okestgamer]

Let’s hope they can bring more competition one day

[@Gh0styGames]

💀I have two Intel Hamhelds I told ppl way ahead of time this would be absolutely cooked. In 2 YEARS+ they haven't been able to fix" Intel XE stuff it was inevitable this was gonna be like this

[@okestgamer]

Yeah I was hoping it would get better after a few years.

[@Gh0styGames]

@@okestgamer seems absolutely nothing has changed outside of more "power" 💀

[@aguycorrectingspellingmist61]

Picking an intel apu was a bad choice

[@okestgamer]

Yeah sadly that seems to be the case

[@eddieos]

I feel so bad for MSI

[@traviswieser]

They did it to themselves. Feel bad for the consumers.

[@okestgamer]

Well said

[@okestgamer]

I hope they fix it

[@eddieos]

@@okestgamer I hope they get a new chip entirely like the Z1 extreme, this was pure bad business idea.

[@captainkickoff3565]

I have the Lenovo legion go and speakers are pretty rubbish

[@okestgamer]

It's the weakest part of an otherwise great device b

[@ezg8448]

Many bad quarks with this chip and design. The lower model (135h) actually can out perform the 155h due to not getting enough power fed into the chip, at least in its default state. As others have already tested, this APU runs optimally at over 50+ watts... Epic fail for handhelds!

[@okestgamer]

Yeah I saw some videos with the 135 out performing it, which is wild.

[@3venFl0w]

MSI.....I'm shocked

[@okestgamer]

I had a laptop previously and liked it.

[@Roxas_DM]

Brilliantly Broken

[@okestgamer]

Hopefully only temporary issues

[@Roxas_DM]

@@okestgamer ya agreed I hope somehow it gets a magical update and becomes a super handheld!

[@okestgamer]

With all the hopium we can muster haha

[@elasmojones]

Is there such a thing as an Intel fanboy anymore...cause I guess that's who this is for.

[@okestgamer]

I think it would be a tough life as a fanboy right now, I do hope it gets better though

[@elasmojones]

I guess we'll see how it sells. Not like its a bad option just because there's better. My biggest problem right now is...How many of us that wanted a handheld PC don't have some already collecting dust...At some point the market reaches a saturation point.

[@tiggerthemighty8279]

Intel has seriously got to get their act together. This is THE market to regain relevance but this hot garbage is not the way to do it.

[@okestgamer]

As soon as possible too. Sadly I don't think the fixes will come very quickly

[@tiggerthemighty8279]

@@okestgamer The current fix is downright simple. They have to lower the price to reflect the performance. AMD went through the same crow eating catastrophe for decades before Ryzen bust upon the scene. They maintained themselves by being a budget option to Intel. Pricing yourself at $50 or more than devices that can provide double the FPS rates seems like they either aren't taking their customers seriously or they somehow think their name carries that much clout. Full disclosure: owns a used 1st gen ryzen 5800 onexplayer and looking to upgrade. This thing? Is ON PAR with 2 year old AMD tech! And not even their best 2 year old tech...

[@okestgamer]

At this point I can't recommend anyone to purchase the claw until it's fixed. I've brought the issues up to MSI, but the message was "user error". So I'm holding out as much hope now if the feedback isn't regarded as an actual issue.

[@tiggerthemighty8279]

@@okestgamer One need only compare Arc performance against Raedeon (integrated or otherwise) or Nvidia to see that blaming poor performance on 'user error' is as disingenuous as it should be insulting. I'm sorry for your predicaments--both for a sub-optimal machine and a pair of companies that seem to think they're too big to fail. Here's hoping they get their acts together sooner rather than later. Though, the reason I refuse to buy anything from Razer these days is/was because of their gross mishandling of the original Edge--the now decade old Windows Vista handheld with gaming laptop specs...outsourced to Acer to build and so well supported the thing freaked utterly out when a fresh install of Win8 was loaded in. Carpe diem breeds a consumer base of Once bitten, twice shy. I've been waffling over getting a Legion Go--mostly because I have personal experience with cheap Chinese plasric joysticks breaking and prefer the option of replacement parts over throwing the baby out with the bathwater but also because the reviews are resounding on build quality and support. That and you don't have to spend a couple grand to dock with an external GPU to make those boasts. Still; some epoxy and a filed down nail have kept my OneXPlayer running as a daily driver all this time after my short forray into SteamOS proved more annoying than it was worth (though I hear the teething issues suffered by early adopters have been solved). Probably more than anyone cares to read so my TL;DR is 'All this has happened before. All this will happen again.' -from Peter Pan...and BSG

[@okestgamer]

Yeah it can harm the feeling towards a brand when you get burnt. I will say I have really enjoyed my legion Go

[@ll-xhxpnoticx-llgta5935]

300$ Yes. But 799 ? F***

[@okestgamer]

Yeah it’s a little pricy for how it currently performs

[@MicaelAzevedo]

If 32gb ram they could sell a bit more. Huge fail this device.

[@okestgamer]

I have a onexplayer x1 with the 155h on the way. I’m going to see if that helps with performance

[@poquepoque5851]

I'm so tired of these small chinese companies launching undercooked devices

[@okestgamer]

Stick with the larger brands like AYANEO

[@ElSenorGandhi]

Do you mean MSI?

[@poquepoque5851]

@@ElSenorGandhi yeah that or other oriental OEMs

[@JuliusLagman]

Bottleneck due to Intel APU?

[@okestgamer]

Seems like something is going wrong with it

[@Eevolved32]

Cheap ass packaging!

[@okestgamer]

It's basic, but gets the job done. I'm more concerned with performance right now

[@MrAxelStone]

"the performance is not ideal right now"......shouldn't it be ideal on release? This looks like garbage.

[@okestgamer]

It should be much more ideal than it is. I'm curious what is all going wrong on the 155. The fact that the 135 beats it is rough

[@zomg346]

Overpriced and underperforming.you know this shit is broken when steam deck oled performs better than your device

[@okestgamer]

Yeah it's definitely broken currently. I hope it gets some fixes, because this is rough.