In the ever-expanding portable gaming industry, a new challenger has entered the ring during the CES 2024 showcase. Micro-Star International, commonly known as MSI, has introduced their contender against Valve's Steam Deck, named the Claw. The device's clever moniker already signifies its ambition to grab a significant share of the market. The Claw boasts a configuration that, in some aspects, seems to resemble the features of the Asus ROG Ally rather than Valve's handheld. Notably, the Claw operates on Windows 11 and eschews elaborate hardware gimmicks such as detachable controllers found on some competitors like the Lenovo Legion Go.
MSI's Claw is distinguished by an impressive 53Whr battery, surpassing the Valve Steam Deck's upgraded OLED model featuring a 50Whr cell. With this larger capacity, MSI advertises a battery life of two hours under full workload conditions, albeit this may sound optimistic when translated from marketing terms. Considering my battery tests with the Deck OLED during intensive titles such as 'Assassin’s Creed Mirage' and 'Horizon Zero Dawn', the Claw's additional watt-hours might propel it to at least equal performance in terms of longevity.
Another differentiator for the Claw is its ambitious move to utilize the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H APU, which is a 14th-gen Intel processor, marking a departure from the AMD-driven landscape dominated by the Steam Deck and various other rivals. This APU, already being incorporated into high-end gaming laptops, carries integrated Arc graphics that are slated to handle the demands of AAA gaming with ease, according to MSI.
Further amplifying its appeal, the Claw also features a higher resolution 1920x1080 IPS display than its counterparts, offering a crystal-clear display alongside the capability of a refresh rate up to 120Hz, eclipsing the Deck OLED's 90Hz.
However, despite these promising specifications, details regarding the price and release date of the Claw remain a closely-guarded mystery. Price expectations hover around the competitor's rate, specifically the ROG Ally, whose top variant with the Ryzen Z1 Extreme recently dropped to £599. With a spec sheet that mirrors the competition closely, it seems that any significant price deviation will hinge on the performance of the integrated Arc graphics. Prospective buyers are left to wonder whether the advantages of the beefed-up battery and Intel's hardware can balance the scales against any potential increased power consumption.
Curiosity also surrounds the potential energy efficiency of the device, given the Core Ultra 7 155H's baseline TDP of 28W—significantly higher than the sub-10W power draw seen in devices employing custom AMD APUs. The question remains whether MSI's battery capacity will simply offset the higher power demands or whether the company has devised optimizations to bolster the chip's efficiency.
In the sidelines of the Claw unveiling, MSI also announced a fleet of new gaming laptops powered by Intel's latest 14th-gen CPUs and equipped with Nvidia GeForce RTX 40 series GPUs. These updates span across MSI's laptop offerings from high-end models such as the Titan 18 HX and Raider 18HX to more widely-targeted Vector HX 16 and 17, Crosshair HX 16 and 17, along with Pulse 16 and 17 models.
As the portable PC gaming sector grows, discerning gamers are eagerly watching for which device will rise to the top, offering not only power and portability but also an intelligent balance of battery life to support gaming on the go. The Claw promises to be a significant player, but its actual impact will only be measurable once it finds its way into the hands of gamers worldwide. Whether MSI's entry can truly snatch a piece of the market or simply scratch the surface will depend on a mix of performance, pricing, and endurance that we look forward to evaluating upon its release.
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