Is It Better? - 6 Month Updated Review on The MSI Claw

[@J.Wick.]

Was very curious on this exact thing, and couldn't find any videos of any quality that were somewhat recent. Excellent content as usual sir.

[@ThePhawx]

Thanks dude :)

[@ezekieldavid4098]

@@ThePhawxgot the 135h variant for 380 usd. Is it a good deal or should i return it?

[@topherc100]

What device has vrr besides ally x and can compete or overtake the ally x​@@ThePhawx

[@torqq69]

Okay the thumbnail to video transition was CLEAN

[@HectorPerez-ch3yl]

Can you do the Lenovo Legion GO months later updates review? Would like your like to see your point of view now months later.

[@Martin-b2m]

considering the claw is now half the price of the ally x, i'd say it's worth it now. Got mine for £360 new. I'm happy with it, it does what I need

[@alanriley1972]

Agreed. I have an oled steam deck and lenovo legion go. Recently I picked up an ultra 7 msi claw new for half retail price and it's the one I'm using the most. Some AAA games run better on the claw than they do on legion. And the claw is great for emulation to free up space on my steam deck. And the audio quality is the best I've ever heard in a handheld.

[@Luis-rw5xl]

I got mine last week for 470 USD, but I got a rebate for 50 USD and a 43" TV Full HD and MSI gave me a 30 USD cupon for steam for registration on their appr

[@johnboylan3832]

Where'd you get it that cheap? I am also in the UK.

[@maddoggaming1171]

Glad to see they are still supporting the device. I doubt I’ll buy a Claw or even the new Claw 8 but I’m glad they are adding to the competition, these companies are fighting hard for the handheld market and I’m all for it! If MSI announced a Claw 2 or something next year to compete with a potential Steam Deck 2 or an Ally 2 I’d be happy to consider it since they’d be more fleshed out and experienced by then.

[@CuriousTinkering]

Extensive review as always. Honestly, the result and your recommendation were completely expected.

[@emdotrod]

The Claw will be interesting once MSI slash the price to 299-349 which is very likely to happen anytime soon. A refurbished Steam Deck will still be a better choice for that price but at least there is other option.

[@baldlyrudy]

Lunar Lake is ridiculously exciting! Can't wait to see the real world performance of that chip.

[@piercewiederecht5135]

Intel has always pushed Cyberpunk on Meteor Lake. It got WAY more focus on drivers than any other game.

[@ThePhawx]

Yea, this is evident big time.

[@kaibigan_28]

As a OG before we are fine just running the game in a laptop regardless how low the graphics just to run the smooth 30fps. sometimes we also play 25-30 fps its just because we really like the game. Now we already have the handheld devices capable to run the game to 720p or 1080p in 30fps or more. It’s also amazing how your video changes from a single game test to an emulator test to a random game test in one video to a handheld device reviewer. I always look forward from your videos to see whats the new handheld device or how to maximize the performance.

[@piercewiederecht5135]

Anybody who calls themself an OG, probably isn’t. We’re all fully aware 720p/30fps is perfectly playable or we wouldn’t be into handhelds.

[@BahhBahhBrownSheep]

“It’s okay because we like the game”? Straight up smoothbrain take here. Also If by “OG” you mean somebody who bought the claw at launch, you should know you’re never gonna justify its existence.

[@ThePhawx]

[@PixelatedWolf2077]

​@@BahhBahhBrownSheepI bought the Claw and I'm happy I did. I got to avoid the Asus issues and my friend already had a Legion Go.

[@abaj006]

Can you please test Ryzen handhelds with new windows updates. Apparently there is a 10% performance boost on average!

[@lorenzothomas2612]

Frame gen is crazy, coming from Nvidia on pc its great because you can force it on everygame. Yeah it might jot be great for 4k or higher resolutions but on the Ally X at 1080p res its perfect. Helps those games that run at 40-50 fps to play so mych better. Having VRR is also essential in case of frame drops.

[@krazyolie]

Meteor lake is such an odd platform, feels like it was just a testbed.

[@daklhs6460]

It kinda is.

[@lost4356]

Meteor Is designed for laptop unlike Z1 but lunar lake looks they tune it down like less gimmick core and less TDP

[@saiyanraoh5109]

Whenever I look over at my ROG Ally, Legion Go and Steam Deck OLED and think of how bad I have it that I don't have the ROG ally X, I think, "At least I don't own an MSI Claw." Clouds suddenly lift.

[@hidden_name7469]

Or you could sell your rog ally and steam deck and get enough money to buy the ally x

[@TheAldo32]

The msi claw is not bad as it sits I was able to get it for 400 and honestly I love it. The joystick and trigger response are a lot better Then the rog ally that I have. I believe in few months this device will be a beast. I got power for sure

[@mcslender2965]

How did you get it for that cheap?

[@ghibliboi2040]

​@@mcslender2965 MSI has promos every now and then so you can get it for that price. Currently looking forward to a sale next week so I can get mine. Finally confident about buying one after all the software updates and researching about it 😅

[@Sugiantowu]

in indonesia, they cut the price to 486 dollar now

[@hargon-b8d]

3:57 Dynamic resolution disabled on Intel and enabled on the Ally. Why? It makes this benchmark meaningless, you really have to make sure the settings are identical on both.

[@hargon-b8d]

And why zoomed out on Intel and zoomed in on AMD?

[@benlau2045]

The shoulder buttons has handicapped it permanently. The L1 and R1 buttons are uncomfortable no matter how much you may use it. Even against the original Ally, I am still glad i picked the Ally up.

[@monstercameron]

I was hoping for TDP finetuning and core parking in the review. Thanks for reviewing though

[@ThePhawx]

I don't really anticipate being able to finesse meteorlake that much. Most of the tuning is generally around fixing weird scheduling issues. The power issues are baked into meteorlake foundationally, even when parking all E cores, the machine just needs a LOT of power before it starts doing anything.

[@sandorbence2067]

I don't think the Claw will ever be a good buy (unless for something like a mini PC at the sub 300 range) but it's nice to see how much Intel improved on their drivers. If Lunar Lake will improve this even further by the margin they promise, I might just switch to the Claw 8 from the Legion Go.

[@daklhs6460]

As a sub 300 mini PC would be an interesting option.

[@jheithaus3]

I saw the MSI Claw new at $450 at Amazon yesterday or $25 more than the Z1 Ally ($200 less than the Z1 Extreme Ally and $350 less than the Z1 Extreme Ally X). Can you consider the market price more on your 6 month update videos? The market price Claw seems like a good deal to access Xbox Gamepass + Steam. The Claw is trading blows with the Ally X at around half the price.

[@richorridge]

What do you make of Lunar Lake in new Claw not being out till 25 despite lots of laptops launching Sept? Seems like such a missed opportunity for MSI to me

[@PixelatedWolf2077]

Well, I don't think it's releasing until a bit later. Intel's official channel talked with MSI and the MSI dude said they're still going over configurations and whatnot. However, it DOES exist as an ES at IFA so if he happens to be at IFA, he might have a chance with tinkering with it.

[@xkmatech]

i am tempted to get the MSI Claw because it's a lot cheaper now, in my country its $20(USD equivalent) cheaper than the OG ROG Z1Extreme, and HALF THE PRICE of the Ally X. so yeah, this video is for reference what've they done to the update. but skip the conclusion because sometimes it's not valid for those non US viewers. yes, Ally X here cost MORE than in the US (USD).

[@nthnglsn]

Really cool transitioning from the thumbnail

[@ninjafada]

nice to see the improvement but they are a lot of game not working out of the box, you need dxvk to switch to vulkan to have them working, no support from drivers etc amd 0 problem

[@doolittle_]

Will Lunar Lake be handicapped by drivers like other Intel chips have been?

[@ThePhawx]

Likely yes. But Intel will have a better base to get support generally with Lunarlake. Intel should seed MSI Claw AI 8 to game developers en masse.

[@Dr.D00p]

Bizarrely Im very interested in the sequel to this poor 1st attempt, The Claw 8 with Lunar Lake & XE2 Battlemage iGPU, 8inch 16:10 1920x1200 VRR screen. 2280 SSD. The 16:10 screen is far superior to 16:9 for retro gaming with much better integer scaling of old school resolutions with almost no borders.

[@ThePhawx]

I don't think it's bizarre at all. From what I've already seen of Lunar Lake, it's going to be very good. It should be able to perform great at very low TDPs, as well as, scaling up to meet performance demands.

[@lightward9487]

@@ThePhawx The most sufficient Lunar Lake monster with less consumption can kill AI 300 AMD more weakness with high consumption

[@nizaramanchar8735]

The best transition ok youtube love it ❤

[@fahmimuhamadyusup4332]

😮what if i buy it on half price? It is worth it to buy or nah? What do you think?

[@Hodori-mf3ct]

Hi Phawx! Your intro face tells everything! haha

[@ThePhawx]

:D

[@TheObserver85]

What are your thoughts on the Antec HS Core?

[@santiniperico8627]

Fog rendering issues? MSI Sega Saturn?

[@getchwaltzetki6022]

Bought mine for around 430 135h 512gb. Its the cheapest handled in my country

[@pedro.alcatra]

God. Are you using for frame gen and receiving a 60 fps output.?????

[@bank869]

even tho i like claw more than ally x i wouldnt recommend claw to anyone because the new claw is coming out soon and yes claw uses a lot of battery even tho some games msi manage to beat rog ally. this is a very honest review

[@Jason_P]

720p?? Really?? I am running No Man's Sky on the Legion Go at 1200p (Medium-ish settings) and it's just fine, around 40FPS. The Claw running games at 720p is a MASSIVE FAILURE.

[@Nickbaldeagle02]

Not really. How good is your eyesight? 720p on an 8 inch screen is just fine.

[@Jason_P]

@@Nickbaldeagle02 No, it's not. 720p was "fine" on a TV back in 2008. 1080p should be the MINIMUM acceptable standard now. Nintendo fans use this excuse all the time to justify the Switch BARELY being able to run anything at 720p\30. Stop making excuses for poor performance in 2024.

[@Nickbaldeagle02]

@@Jason_P TVs aren't 8 inches big though, are they? No. I stand by my claim. Regardless of the processing power, 720p on an 8 inch screen is just fine. The PPI is about 210. The human eye struggles to define much above that. Unless you're a vulture or an eagle. Are you an eagle?

[@Jason_P]

@@Nickbaldeagle02 I never said they were. What was ok in 2008 on a 32" TV should NOT be acceptable on a 8" display in 2024. I'm not an eagle. I am also not a sucker or a fanboy. You can settle for mediocrity. I will not.

[@stevenliu1377]

@@Nickbaldeagle02 Remember that it isn't just the PPI, but also the viewing distance. 52 DPI for an 85" TV 5 meters away and 109 PPI for a 27" monitor 1 meter away may be perfectly fine for most people, but a lot of people find 210 PPI for a 7" handheld or smart phone right in front of their faces not up to snuff.

[@Rr-j4x]

how is msi claw compared to steam deck lcd and oled now?

[@wingopimp353]

Why are your graphs backwards sometimes?

[@lalamove8712]

theres a new handheld called acer nitro blaze 7

[@deathetech3070]

I got an MSI Claw on Jawa for under $400 for the top end model and honestly it's my preferred handheld - it's got worse performance than things like the Ally, but the handheld itself is more comfortable to me. The left thumbstick is rubbing which is a problem, but overall I've been pretty satisfied with the performance for what I paid as well as the versatility of having Thunderbolt 4 so I can dock it.

[@sanwell4409]

Well its cheaper now in my country than rog ally and X,maybe allot of people will say i make mistake buying msi claw but no,i happy about my claw even its not comparable with rog ally, but at least i finally can play my game on the go.

[@lynnjr457]

Has anyone tried Bazzite OS on this unit yet? I have seen significant performance increases over Windows on my AMD APU systems with it. I have yet to try one of the newer mobile Intel processors though.

[@jackykwan2580]

Considering using it the only issue is bazzite os cant support lossless scaling which i use for emulators. Windows 11 uses too much ram resources, windows 10 is an option too. Yes lossless scaling is really a game changer otherwise win 11 is just garbage

[@alexygo4243]

If you'll be getting an Ultra 5 135H MSI Claw for around 450 USD would that be a good deal?

[@ergysabna2617]

Yes, the price is really good now. I would rather buy claw than steam deck refurbished.

[@ShadowTheHellJumper]

Until Intel can get the same exact support for their graphics drivers that can match AMD and Nvidia, or MSI releases a Claw with an AMD chipset instead, this thing is a no go

[@PixelatedWolf2077]

Not worth having an MSI Claw with AMD. It would mean basically everyone is releasing the same piece of hardware save for someone like Zotac doing OLED(?) screens.

[@ninjason57]

Im still enjoying my Steam deck OLED. I think ill have to wait for a significant improvement before spending that much money on an incremental improvement in performance.

[@ThePhawx]

I'm really hoping Valve goes all out on the Steam Deck 2. Just give us the beefiest GPU in a handheld ever

[@KneeGrowDoingKneeGrowThings]

@@ThePhawxI hope they shell out for HBM. I'm tired of memory starved APUs

[@daklhs6460]

​@@ThePhawxdon't you think that valve has made a very balanced choice between screen resolution/graphic power/ battery life/price? A power focused handheld can't achieve that.

[@OblivionPrime]

Big boost in performance for sure

[@HctudYT]

T-shirt says it all This Guy Pranks

[@Visionary4787]

While the performance improvements of the MSI Claw AI8 are a step in the right direction, it's still hard to overlook the fact that AMD consistently outperforms Intel in key games like Starfield and Wukong. Sure, the driver updates have helped, especially in a resource-hog like Cyberpunk 2077, but the overall inconsistency in frame rates and rendering quality shows that Intel still has catching up to do. Frankly, the comparison with the ROG Ally X only makes the Claw look weaker. Until Intel’s Lunar Lake architecture delivers on its promises, AMD seems to be the better choice for gamers who prioritize performance and stability. The Claw AI8 might be improving, but it’s still not where it needs to be for a true competitive edge.

[@lightward9487]

The most sufficient Lunar Lake monster with less consumption can kill AI 300 AMD more weakness with high consumption

[@carlodimaandal]

Is it a good buy for 450usd brand new?

[@coolmodee]

Nope. You better off getting the ally or legion go

[@betag24cn]

i wouldnt pay 1 dollar for this joke, they would have to pay to me to touch it

[@jackykwan2580]

Even the switch performs better with less stuttering. Intel keeps shooting themselves on the foot the issue is with the chip themselves.

[@o0Dan0o]

MTL really was a swing and a miss, I have high hopes for lunar lake and Intel's follow on APUs, but there's a lot of time between now and then...

[@steirerblut_]

Thanks for the video. Ive recently purchased a refurbished Claw (the one with a core ultra 5 though) from MSI for 330 Euro. Well Im only a few hours into Diablo 4, played some Celeste, and Hi-Fi rush. But of course, I havent played any games in the last 10 years or so, tried a Logitech G Cloud before that for Xbox Live streaming. Which of course was a complete disaster. Much happier with the Claw now. Thanks for the tips with the power settings. I do want to give Cyberpunk and Batman Arkham Knight a go as well.

[@Jonnyd05]

Shame it’s a laptop cpu that requires high tdp to gain momentum, the claw is too underpowered for it and lets it down a lot compared to the z1x

[@reeeformat3843]

as exciting as lunar lake's potential is, I want to keep my expectations low, because like this model where MSI gated all the info and reviews until it was released. It just raises red flags and could be another bummer. I really want there to be more competition for handheld pcs because I honestly believe it's only going to get better. Right now AMD is dominating this space

[@PixelatedWolf2077]

The thing is, anyone that bothered looking into Meteor Lake before it came out should have had lower expectations, especially because it is running Alchemist +, their first ACTUAL chance at a GPU architecture. They even cut on RT cores for the Meteor Lake iGPU and excluded the XMX cores, so it had to resort to Dp4a upscaling instead of their fancy XMX ones the dGPUs had. A year prior Alchemist's launch, we had to deal with mediocre Iris Xe iGPUs and the Xe MAX/DG1 (for productivity).

[@reeeformat3843]

@PixelatedWolf2077 that was also another thing their "XESS" feature is as you mentioned software based lol! but they're selling it like it's the real deal. So unless you look into it most people will just buy into it without knowing. FSR is faster on this front. Although I will say actually using it and seeing it the image quality isn't that bad. So I guess we'll just have to wait and see

[@ibelieveinjesusinmyspareti2861]

This Is the quiet before the storm, the rdna comparison Is coming...

[@kelownatechkid]

Comparing frame gen off to on doesn't make sense. Saying it is supported, sure. But it's not double the fps lol

[@betag24cn]

i feel sorry for you, you paid for that pos and had to review it two times already, so much suffering on this world so i guess there will be a 1 year and then a follow up so we can laugh at it in the future multiple times msi taking intel money, well, at least someone won here i guess

[@seppeseppe-jq7nr]

Payed actor 😂😂😂 lucky some nerds know this piece is crap

[@Nickbaldeagle02]

It's not as good as the Steam Deck.

[@Funkiam]

Don't let that ring finger explode brother hit the gym

[@afistfulofpimples1745]

Chunky and clogged arteries are the new trend.

[@loveordie4]

Intel drivers suck

[@kondor99999]

SteamOS runs Windows games better than Windows. No SteamOS, no buy.

[@edwardlashley3572]

Lossless scaling only works with windows & it’s a universal frame generator that downloads frames for every game with the push of a single button, allowing you to double triple or even quadruple your frame rate. SteamOS has been dusted by this one single app that ironically is sold on steam but doesn’t run on steam deck unless you install windows. So installing windows on a steam deck is exactly what I did. For anyone who knows, it’s over for Linux 😂

[@edwardlashley3572]

& if everyone would just run lossless scaling then ppl who review this sort of thing for a living could be out of a job b/c it just doesn’t matter any more. Lossless scaling is going to make the MSU claw run like ROC Alley X. If you run lossless on the claw & don’t on the Alley it is the Alley that’s gonna look like a piece of sludge 😂

[@OneLastScholar]

SteamOS sucks though, Proton is wonky and many games require Windows as a hardcoded requirement.

[@hk6926]

@@OneLastScholarit does and that’s why millions own steam deck and few owns windows handheld

[@DienerNoUta]

I mean, not sTeAmOs, but linux in general. you can install CachyOS, bazzite, ChimeeaOS, etc... I'm a linux user and I have installed bazzite on my ally and it work perfect

[@sTuPiDiScOoL_]

Asus still being shady my bro not honouring refunds for brand new allys when UK customers entitled to it within 12 months of purchase. Scum bags bro I'm going back to ayn for Odin 2 mini and most pc games on game pass anyway I'm done with Asus and handheld pc nonsense the deck was trash also. Will always watch your videos bro You need to call the ally the ally ecks tee Ecks next time bro 😂.

[@mackw919]

Every handheld doesn't fit everyone we at the point we can all have a handheld that suites your personality like a cellphone

[@coolmodee]

He's not talking about preference though. He's talking about objective performance

[@ThePhawx]

True enough!

[@mackw919]

@@coolmodee I have a rg556 and it is the best handheld for me I can afford any handheld I want but I enjoy what I have gamepass solves allot of those performance issues you don't need top tier specs to play triple a games

[@sanwell4409]

Well its cheaper now in my country than rog ally and X,maybe allot of people will say i make mistake buying msi claw but no,i happy about my claw even its not comparable with rog ally, but at least i finally can play my game on the go.