Expertise may appear to be it is continually shifting ahead on a curve, but it surely’s usually cyclical. Flip telephones, prompt cameras, and document gamers have all made a comeback. Now it is the gaming handheld’s flip. Whereas Nintendo has all the time had a handheld out there, Home windows-based moveable gaming gadgets appear to have taken off previously couple of years, with main producers speeding to deliver their merchandise to market.
MSI is a type of producers. The Taiwanese agency unveiled the MSI Claw A1M, its Intel-powered handheld gaming PC, within the sea of AMD-powered handheld gaming PCs at CES 2024. The system was formally launched in India in March, days after its world launch, however preliminary availability was suspect. Now, the Claw is on the market within the Indian market in three variants — a base mannequin operating on Intel Core Extremely 5 processor and packing 512GB of SSD storage, a middle-tier mannequin with Core Extremely 7 chipset and the identical storage capability and a top-end Core Extremely 7-powered mannequin with 1TB of SSD storage.
The Core Extremely 5 mannequin of the MSI Claw A1M launched in India at Rs. 88,990, whereas the Core Extremely 7 fashions had been priced at Rs. 96,990 and Rs. 99,990 for the 512GB and 1TB storage variants, respectively. MSI has since revised the pricing for the hand held, slashing it down significantly to Rs. 59,990 for the bottom variant, with the 2 Core Extremely 7 variants coming in at Rs. 66,990 and Rs. 69,990.
However is the Meteor Lake-powered MSI Claw A1M a worthy competitor to merchandise from Asus and Lenovo that run on the AMD Ryzen Z1 collection of processors constructed particularly for gaming handhelds? I spent an prolonged time frame testing out the MSI Claw A1M, and whereas there are some things the hand held does properly, there’s loads that misses the mark. As a Home windows-based gaming handheld, the MSI Claw is competing with the ROG Ally and the Legion Go, but it surely usually feels prefer it’s going in opposition to its personal flaws.
The MSI Claw is far larger and beefier than the Nintendo Change
MSI Claw A1M Design: The suitable match
- Dimensions – 294mm (width) x 117mm (depth) x 21.2mm (peak)
- Weight – 675g
- Color – Black
Should you picked up the Claw and ignored the MSI branding on the back and front, you would be forgiven for mistaking it for the Asus ROG Ally. The Claw A1M arrived on the heels of the Ally, and you may’t assist however really feel that MSI took a number of notes. I did not have the unique ROG Ally at hand to match, however the Claw sports activities a strikingly related look to the ROG Ally X, particularly because the refreshed handheld from Asus now is available in black.
The MSI Claw bears a placing resemblance to the ROG Ally
The Claw A1M is comfy to carry regardless of weighing slightly on the heavier aspect at 675g. My arms by no means uninterested in holding it up, even after I performed on it straight for a few hours. The all-black plastic building offers it a sturdy really feel, and the grips’ angular curves settle into your palms moderately naturally. The hand held’s ergonomic design and environment friendly structure be sure that you are by no means sweating and stretching to achieve a button, even in case you have brief thumbs like me.
The hand held, nonetheless, lacks a design aptitude — one thing to make it stand out. The ABXY buttons aren’t color coded both, leaving the RGB lights to do the heavy lifting by way of bettering the general uninteresting look of the Claw. The ABXY face buttons and the Corridor-Impact analogue sticks really feel clicky and responsive, however the D-pad and the bumpers are a bit floaty and do not give satisfying suggestions. The 4 fast motion buttons hugging both aspect of the show that deliver up View, Menu, MSI Heart M software program and Fast Settings overlay additionally lack pronounced suggestions.
The MSI Claw sports activities vents on its bottom
MSI Claw A1M Show: Will get the job completed
- Measurement – 7-inch “IPS-level” contact show
- Decision – Full-HD (1,920×1,080 pixels)
- Refresh Price – 120Hz
The Claw’s 7-inch touch-enabled panel is a spotlight. Whereas this display dimension is slightly small for some Home windows-based duties (if you happen to intend to make use of the hand held PC as a PC), it is greater than satisfactory for gaming — particularly smaller indie titles and platformers. The show additionally goes as much as 500 nits of peak brightness — sufficient for whenever you’re outside however not whenever you’re underneath direct daylight. You additionally may wish to preserve the brightness on the decrease aspect when indoors and through nighttime to preserve battery.
The display is crisp and has good colors and responsive contact capabilities. I discovered myself navigating the Home windows maze with a mix of the left analog stick as cursor management in Desktop Mode (we’ll get the 2 management modes later) and a touchscreen for primary enter. The draw back, nonetheless, is that the display picks up fingerprints fairly shortly, and a protector is really useful to assist keep away from scratches and smudges.
The Claw’s prime aspect comes with a microSD card slot, a USB Kind-C port and a 3.5mm headphone jack
MSI Claw A1M Software program: Extra Home windows PC than console
On the OS aspect, the MSI Claw A1M runs Home windows 11 House, with the hand held struggling acquainted points present in Home windows-based handhelds. Whereas Microsoft’s OS gives versatility and suppleness, the working system simply is not constructed to be intuitive on a 7-inch touchscreen. The fixed bottlenecks, bugs, and run-of-the-mill Home windows stuff stop you from simply choosing up the hand held and enjoying. The endless Home windows and Intel driver updates are likely to make you groan each time they present up, and the hand held begins feeling like an insatiable beast that must be on a relentless drip of updates to perform.
Some OS-based points additionally appear exacerbated on the MSI Claw A1M. In a single occasion, the taskbar stubbornly remained pinned inside the sport window, with quitting and restarting the one measure that labored. In one other occasion, I would preserve getting notifications for an Intel driver replace regardless of downloading the stated replace earlier. These points, whereas small, are likely to accumulate and develop into obstructive in the best way of getting enjoyable. A handheld gaming system is all about comfort. It is about choosing it up, enjoying in your sofa or mattress, and never worrying about fixing stuff earlier than you get it up and operating. That is the place SteamOS on the Steam Deck, which gives a console-like intuitive expertise, wins out over each different Home windows-based handheld gaming PC.
The Home windows OS and its endless updates can depart you pissed off
Home windows-based gaming handhelds include proprietary and customized software program constructed by the producer to streamline the person expertise and act as a bridge to console-like intuitiveness. Asus places the Armoury Crate SE software program within the ROG Ally, and Lenovo gives the Legion Area interface on the Legion Go. These double as a central software program hub from the place you possibly can launch your video games throughout completely different companies, tweak system settings, verify for firmware updates, remap controller buttons, entry captured media and extra. Whereas these do not adequately mimic the native OS expertise, they do assist tide over a number of the frustrations related with Home windows.
The Claw A1M comes with an identical software program, referred to as the MSI Heart M. Opposite to make the software program expertise extra palatable, the interface finally ends up marring the expertise additional. When it really works, it really works high-quality, however the MSI Heart M, in my expertise, remained a buggy, unreliable mess. The launcher offered a laggy interface that stored operating into enter points. The Heart M software program, which may be introduced up at any level by tapping the Claw key on the left fringe of the show, usually didn’t register the left analog stick and button enter, leaving me to depend on D-pad and contact enter. Restarting the system fastened the issue each time, but it surely occurred so usually that I virtually stopped utilizing the customized interface altogether, solely getting into to tweak some settings.
The MSI Heart M software program offered a number of points
MSI’s Fast Settings overlay was the worst UI/UX perpetrator on the system. To start with, it usually fails simply to indicate up. I’d press the Fast Settings key a number of occasions, just for the overlay to pop up seconds later. And bafflingly, whenever you faucet on a specific possibility throughout the overlay to toggle it on or off, the contact enter additionally registers on the window behind it. So, if you happen to deliver up the Fast Settings menu inside a sport to watch efficiency or take a screenshot, you are more likely to find yourself triggering an in-game motion.
Each the MSI Centre M and the Fast Settings interface allow you to swap between the 2 management modes — Desktop and Gamepad. The previous is supposed for use outdoors of gaming whereas performing Home windows-based duties, whereas the latter is your major management mode for enjoying video games, basically mimicking an Xbox controller. When you can manually change your management mode at any level, ideally, the hand held ought to detect the duty you are performing and swap to the mode greatest suited to it. And the MSI Claw A1M does that — besides it did it so unreliably and inconsistently that just about by no means had the controls switched to Gamepad mode when coming into a sport.
The Claw has hassle switching between the best-suited management mode
This is able to lead to controller inputs not working, and manually switching the management mode would not repair the problem, both. So, I resorted to twiddling with the in-game menu with the assistance of the touchscreen and the on-screen keyboard to alter enter strategies or simply hand over, give up and restart — I discovered myself going with the latter after operating out of endurance sooner or later.
MSI Claw A1M Efficiency: Not fairly there
- Processor – As much as Intel Core Extremely 7
- RAM – 16GB of LPDDR5-6400
- Storage – As much as 1TB NVMe SSD PCIe Gen4 + M.2 2230 SSD slot for added storage
- Graphics – Intel Arc graphics
Earlier than speaking about efficiency, I ought to point out that the Core Extremely 7-powered evaluation unit I acquired had already been used and had some software program put in on it. As such, efficiency outcomes may range from that of a retail unit. Efficiency on the Claw A1M, regardless of a number of updates, stays inconsistent.
The chipset works throughout a TDP vary of 20-35W on DC energy (battery) and 20-40W on AC (whereas charging). These PL1 and PL2 (decrease and better energy limits underneath load) values may be manually adjusted in settings, or you possibly can select between a number of 5 pre-defined energy profiles, or as MSI calls it, “Person Situations” — Efficiency, Balanced, Tremendous Battery, Guide and AI Engine — that run throughout a TDP vary of 20-35W when unplugged (which is how I largely performed). Efficiency is meant to yield one of the best framerates however drains energy shortly. It is best to make use of this profile whereas enjoying demanding fashionable video games.
Taking part in Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Lower on Excessive preset, for example, yielded body charges within the vary of 40-45fps. The typical body price dropped to the low 30s in busy areas or action-heavy sequences. At Medium settings, the body charges climbed to the 45-50fps vary, with the typical hovering across the 47fps mark. Taking part in the sport in Low settings didn’t get well a variety of frames, with the typical body price settling round 50fps. These numbers had been noticed within the Efficiency person state of affairs with Intel’s XeSS upscaling turned on in settings and the sport operating at 1080p decision.
Switching the person state of affairs to Tremendous Battery in a graphically demanding title like Ghost of Tsushima led to the body charges taking a substantial hit. On this energy profile, even on Low graphical current (albeit with 1080p decision), efficiency stayed within the vary of 35-45fps, with dips in busier areas. Altering the preset to Excessive would deliver efficiency firmly within the 30fps vary, with the typical hovering across the 33fps mark — sure sections would drag it additional down within the 20s. Taking part in when plugging within the charger didn’t make a marked distinction in efficiency whereas enjoying in any energy profile.
Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Lower on the MSI Claw
The MSI Claw A1M can run triple-A titles at respectable framerates, however the efficiency remained inconsistent, with stuttering and lagging an everyday characteristic. The state of affairs has improved because the handheld’s launch, with MSI pushing updates to enhance efficiency, however points clearly persist. The Claw offers a a lot better account of itself when enjoying much less demanding or older video games. Portal 2, for example, ran with none hiccups at framerates constantly above 100fps — even with all graphical settings on Excessive and the person state of affairs set to Tremendous Battery.
Efficiency on indie platformer Spiritfarer was constantly above 90fps, crossing the 100fps mark on the Efficiency energy profile. On a barely extra demanding however older title like Dying Mild, I obtained framerates within the 80-90fps vary within the Efficiency profile with settings turned Excessive. There have been some dips, but it surely by no means went under the 60fps mark. In reality, even after I switched to the Tremendous Battery profile, the sport ran comfortably within the 60-70fps vary with some graphical settings turned to Medium or Low.
There are some things that the Claw will get proper. Audio is carried out properly; the front-firing audio system are loud and crisp however by no means tinny. The haptics are additionally a constructive and, together with the audio, assist deliver a way of immersion whereas enjoying.
The front-firing audio system are loud and crisp, utilising Nahimic audio
MSI Claw A1M Battery: Not sufficient juice
- Capability – 53Whr
- Charger – 65W PD adapter
Whereas unplugged and totally charged, the Claw A1M would drain totally in lower than an hour enjoying Ghost of Tsushima on a Efficiency person state of affairs. Within the Tremendous Battery profile, the hand held would final over an hour however properly under two hours. Taking part in demanding video games with the console not plugged in chews by the battery, and also you’re more likely to wrestle to get one full hour of battery life from the system.
One of the simplest ways to get probably the most juice out of the hand held is to stay to older or indie titles with the Claw operating on Tremendous Battery profile at 20W TDP and graphical presets set to Low or Medium. I may stretch that handheld to 2 hours of use whereas enjoying video games like Portal 2 and Murderer’s Creed Chronicles. Because the Claw A1M’s launch, Intel has additionally pushed out driver updates that deliver an Endurance Gaming characteristic inside its Arc Management software, which guarantees to stability body price and energy consumption to cut back battery drain.
The MSI Claw can deal with older and indie titles fairly properly
MSI Claw A1M Verdict
The MSI Claw A1M feels firmly like a first-generation product that was rushed out when Asus put the ROG Ally available on the market. Extra importantly, MSI’s first-generation handheld suffers from inconsistent efficiency and fails to differentiate itself within the battery life division. Intel simply launched its Lunar Lake processor, and the Claw A1M’s Meteor Lake already appears to be like outdated.
Asus has launched a refreshed model of the Ally, the ROG Ally X, with appreciable upgrades. However, the Lenovo Legion Go (Overview) gives extra options with its removable controllers and large 8.8-inch QHD+ show. Within the face of such competitors, the MSI Claw A1M can find yourself wanting like a pale imitation. And when you add the unique ROG Ally and the Steam Deck OLED to the combo — each presently promoting at a a lot lower cost level than MSI’s handheld, the Claw turns into a product inconceivable to suggest.
It is telling that MSI itself has introduced its subsequent era of the Claw handheld operating on Lunar Lake. In reality, MSI is already eager about Claw 2, Claw 3, and Claw 4. So, if the corporate is already so decidedly over its first-generation product, why ought to the buyer stick round?
Execs
- Good show
- Nahimic audio implementation
- Haptics
- Sturdy construct high quality
Cons
- Inconsistent efficiency
- Disappointing battery life
- Generic design
- Home windows-based bottlenecks
- Buggy MSI Centre M expertise
Scores (out of 10)
- Design: 6
- Show: 7
- Software program: 4
- Efficiency: 6
- Battery life: 6
- Worth for cash: 5
- General: 6
