MSI Claw 8 AI+ will be the name of the second generation portable console of the Taiwanese manufacturer. Although at the time the official presentation was promoted at CES 2025, the machine may arrive soon in regions like the United States, where it is already available for reservation at some retailers, which allows us to find out first price (unofficial) and all its specifications. We were also able to learn about another variant of the original model that will keep the screen size but will be updated in the internal hardware.

You already know that the niche handheld gaming machine market is experiencing a second youth with the Steam Deck as a great entertainer. Half a dozen machines from major Asian manufacturers were released in a very short period of time, and MSI stood out as the only one to use Intel processors. And he’s coming back on his own terms.

MSI Claw 8 AI+, better but more expensive

The new version will be bigger and heavier than the original, measuring 299 x 123 x 24mm and weighing 794g. Of course, the size of its screen has also increased, as has the battery capacity 80 Whwhich is an aspect that was very much in need of improvement, as (in general) with all these handheld machines that have a fairly decent autonomy. The company promises more than four hours of gameplay for triple A titles.

This model has a screen increases by 7 to 8 incheswith an IPS panel with a resolution of 1080p. refresh rate of 120 Hz and maximum brightness of 500 nits.

The hardware base is also updated in favor of the processor Core Ultra 7 258V The latest generation of Intel for laptops. It includes an Intel Arc 140V graphics card with 8 Xe cores at 1.95 GHz, is supplemented with up to 32 GB of LPDDR5X-8533 memory and has a 1 Tbyte SSD. This will be the top-of-the-line configuration, although we expect MSI to launch more to bring the price down.

We don’t see too many changes in the general design or group of controls (including joysticks and a Hall effect trigger), although its performance and response time should be better, as promised by the manufacturer. Yes, connectivity will be improved with wireless standards Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, as well as two ports with Thunderbolt 4 support. It has stereo speakers, a 3.5 mm audio jack, which – unfortunately – is no longer hard to find, a microSD memory card reader and a sensor fingerprints.

With Windows 11 pre-installed, we see the prices 899 dollars. Quite high, although this is the top configuration and we expect tighter.

MSI Claw 7 AI+

A second version was also put on sale during the pre-order phase, which, while maintaining the original 7-inch screen size and basic design, will update its hardware base with Intel Core processors of the Ultra 200 series, which will be able to fit up to 32 GB of LPDDR5X memory and with half the storage of its older sister. 512 GB SSD.

The control part is the same, as well as the audio and connectivity part except for Wi-Fi 6E. Its battery is also smaller, up to 53 Wh. Smaller, lighter and more manageable, its price is slightly lower, 799 dollars brand name sellers like Amazon.

If the new MSI Claw consoles are too expensive for you, remember that the original model is still on sale on Black Friday and you can buy it for only 499 euros.