I'm a firm believer that PlayStation makes some of the best d-pads for their controllers, post-ps4 era only got even better. It's also the reasons why I tolerated the psp/psp vita when playing fighters. The dpad on those were amazing. It's a shame most handhelds never adopted that dpad design.
Was really excited for this but then my excitement dropped dramatically the more info they revealed, all around it doesn't look like it has any high ground against the Ally or the Steam Deck, I fail to understand its appeal
Proper thunderbolt perhaps.. I think that the GPU in this in theory is stronger than the "GPU" in z1 extreme. Lacks ALOT in software tho. But it's great that Intel is getting in the market to force AMD to keep working on their APUs.
Upside down gaming handheld, the less you spend, the better the performance. Gonna try some game streaming to a phone docked to a controller (Gamesir X2s). Considering our phones are creeping up towards 6 inches it is probably better for me to use my desktop at home to send the game via a 720p stream. But I mostly play turn-based RPG on the go
The E-cores are meant for multi-core performance, which I agree doesn't make much sense for a device like this. They're better suited to regular laptop use cases where you might hit them with a CA workload or just have a ton of stuff open. If Intel went the custom SoC route, it would probably look a lot more like Lunar Lake is supposed to with 4+4 cores and a big iGPU.
I don't think it's a matter of which of intel's chips they could have used. That's the problem, intel's current architecture simply doesn't scale well enough at low power. Driver optimization for Arc is still going strong for new games, but I'm unsure how vast it's general support is, and with a handheld, games on eclectic engines (indies) are a prime candidate for mobile-play.
Someone scared of Competition lol this their first handheld I think they did ok.. how long has amd been doing this.. msi knows that chip wasn't that great after but the claw 2 will do well I have heard from a friend that works there and let's just say it's very good
I got one recently and I will say so far it's quite good. The grip feel is good, battery life is acceptable and screen is super awesome, really really bright even allowing me to play outdoor
When it comes to handhelds, the real deal is all about how it feels in your hands and how long you can go without charging. As for performance, it’s gonna get better as Intel tweaks its software, so don’t sweat it.
@@liviup6660yes, he likes everything. Which is why he kept complaining about the D-Pads. :rolleyes: Do you haters actually WATCH these videos or just hang around to slag the channel because you have nothing else to do?
@@liviup6660 Again, if he loves everything, why did he constantly slag the d-pads? You guys got your panties in a twist when he started getting new stuff to review more frequently and now won't shut up about perceived biases, but don't actually watch every video... he's got lots where he DOESN'T claim something is the fastest in its class or the best. He doesn't slag anything outright, and is mostly positive, but that's fine, he's honest about the limitations of whatever he's testing.
I don't know if I should laugh or cry at this product. We had an idea with previous tests this chip needs at least 50 watts to perform optimally. There was no way MSI techs didn't know this chip wasn't meant for low powered devices. It feels like they lost at friday night poker, then made this in order to pay for the losses.
Or Intel gave MSI and OneNet a sweet deal offer. The only successful Intel handset so far seems to be the OneXPlayer X1, but that maybe more attributed to it being a hybrid that can also be a productivity device.
I tried the claw in store and the grip is quite nice...Ally is too flat. Gameplay is smooth, and battery is much bigger than rog, I believe it can last longer
Did msi consult fisher price or Ali express for the buttons? I hate mine. I destroyed the review honestly. Don’t let the passivity fool anyone. Watch multiple reviews before thinking about buying one. Also it’s very sus they don’t show temps on the msi overlay. The temps hit over 100c easily at stock fan profiles. If msi had followed the steps of everyone else who has made good handhelds they would have sent them out to consultants in the industry or RU-vidrs who won’t lie or over sugar coat things. Also no user friendly nvme upgrade is horrible. You have to break the warranty seal plus remove a fan which is sketchy af
Those scores being all over the place is a clear indication that Intel's power distribution algorithms are still far from optimized. Looking at these results, Intel should probably have combined the weaker CPU with the stronger iGPU. That way the CPU could boost fewer cores higher while leaving more power for the iGPU.
As an ROG Ally owner before, I have to say: 1. I feel anxious every day without a Type-C charger. Even when playing games like Dead Cells, my ex can easily kill 70% of its battery within an hour. If I was not in tension, it shuts down due to low battery, which is very frustrating. 2. The heat from this screen is no joke. My cat used to love sitting on electronic devices, but ever since getting scared by the Ally, it hisses at me whenever I pick it up. I've sold my Ally and bought the Claw, so at least I don't have to stress like a battery abuse patient.
30 watt cpu power is half the story, the entire device takes 50watts+ and is the worst option out of all these portable pc devices, no one should be supporting this. Not even an influencer trying to butter up the device to not sound as good...
ETA has already buttered up devices like the ROG Ally posting insane benchmarks that I didn’t see anyone else reproduce. I tested the Ally at launch with the same games and got maybe half the fps. So this is par for the course.
If you have a Legion Go, Steam Deck or Rog Ally then this is not worth the purchase. If you don't any of the handhelds that are mentioned (Legion Go, Steam Deck or Rog Ally) then this is definitely not the gaming handheld to purchase. I'm not sure why MSI decided to go with Intel, other than to be the only other manufacturer that uses Intel. It's a shame because this will not sell and therefore MSI might exit this area because of their poor decision. Hopefully not.
I tried out The Claw! The cooling system was amazing - I didn't feel any heat even after playing for a while. After saw the review, I'm even more tempted to buy one! 🎮🔥
I think you'll get much better results if you disable the P-cores completely. You're going to be GPU limited most of the time and you'll get at least 10W back. I would probably disable the SoC E-cores as well to maximize cache hits.
Lol after 3-4 months maybe even 2months we will see this msi vlaw take off and outshine everything. This happens with every handheld pc. They stabilize after awhile. I feel like MSI is goin for a beastly pc while docked and a damn good pc while mobile.
Even MSI Claw normal version is enough for me. I'm not ready to pay 1000€ about of an Ultra version of MSI Claw. Even normal MSI Claw cost 850€ what's too an expensive, and it dosen't have even an Oled. I'm fine without an Oled, bevause I still have an original Nintendo Switch, but 850€ is too much for my wallet. Asus Rog Ally and Steam Deck Oled wins, but MSI Claw looks still beautiful and powerful handheld gaming pc, defienitily I love that Dragon wallaper in the Year of the Dragon 2024. 🐉
soo.. getting a cheaper, worse APU model actually... is better than top one? that is interesting to keep in note tho as before - MSI really messed up with the pricing for it..
The chipset should've been theoretically faster, but Intel didn't do well with their drivers 😂 Thunderbolt support also added up to the pricing, too bad they could've just went with AMD and slapped in an Oculink port to keep it cheaper
@@icerink239 you know that Thunderbolt is overall still supperior to Oculink right? Oculink is faster in bandwitdh than TB3 - yes but Oculink is just that - just an PCIE in different format, just like M2 is really an PCIE X4 connection You cannot transfer video signal or even power via it - while you can do all of it via Thunderbolt port :/ Oculink ONLY use it for eGPUs and nothing else if i buy a handheld like that, i rather have one port for dock, power delivery etc instead of specific port just to plugin an eGPU which i probably won't even own
@@itsmilan4069 However when ALLY was released, steamdeck was the only competitor in the market, and everyone know Z1E(7840u) has better performance than steamdeck. But now there are many competitors in the market, and the gaming performance of them are not worse than Core Ultra even the driver problem will be solved in the future.
I prefer Intel products only on desktops and sometimes laptops. Because in terms of power, unfortunately they will work poorly at low wattage values. I've used Intel on desktops for years, but my last computer I bought was a Ryzen 9 5950x and I'm happy with it. I also own a Rog Ally handheld. I think AMD is much better in this regard. I wish MSI had made a device using the 8840u AMD chip.
I wish more handhelds have better connection ports so we can use it as a laptop. At least something for eGPU and another for dongle would be required for me.
Most modern laptops need dungles and you can't fit every type of ports on a handheld like this (eg: USB type A which most peripheral use). I'd rather have 1, maybe 2 USB C gen 4 ports & I'll bring my own dungle.
@@taylorhession1905Not for everyone. The screen on the stream deck is too small for some games that have smaller text or games like GranBlue Fantasy that have a lot going on screen at once. I've had all 3 consoles and my least favorite was the ally. The steam deck Oled I mostly used it for games that were made for mobile platforms like monster hunter rise and indies like hades. The Legion Go I use for triple A titles and the ones for which the steam deck screen is too small for. Disco Elysium and Gran a blue are a nightmare on a 7 inch screen.
@@lolunderstated533 as a deck only owner i agree. I mean i fly a lot, so i want low tdp optimization on the go, which SD excels at. And at home i can stream AAA games to SD from a laptop. If i had different use cases, i would buy Ally or GO over the steam deck. So the guy above should start thinking outside the box. If we finally will have a new powerful low tdp optimized handheld with external oculink/thunderbolt compact top end gpu that i can throw in a backpack, i will sell both laptop and SD.
We are still in the first generation of this new handheld gaming PC era. By the second or third generation, handheld PCs will be much better with longer battery life, smoother software, and solid FPS rates. We have to wait and see.
I’d say when it comes to msi the lower end always sounds promising but you realize with this manufacture you should just go for the top of the line stuff
Stil a cool looking device with the vent design and the RGB buttons though! Performance wise it's convenient for me to just plug in any external GPU with that TB4.
Stick to Switch OLED, i play Skyrim and Witcher 3 just on and off easy peasy no tweaking etc atleast 4,5-7 h. Nothing compares to the Switch. Steamdeck might be close up there but batterylife is still sh*t and dont let me start on Rog Ally and Legion go omg that is not gaming on the go with 45 mins batterylife hahah
@@hazzehummuz6688 The switch will do 4-5h at low brightness and 3-3h30 at high brightness on the most demanding games. And it's really not that bright either with only 350nits for the OLED model.
if the core ultra 7 version is cheaper than the rog ally it would be make sense to buy it.. but I hope intel can make a great driver for the gpu because in raw Performance ARC graphics is more capable than the Radeon 780M
Because the power consumption would be absolutely insane. Nor would it actually fit. Intel's P cores are huge and power hungry. This is why the i7 and i9 is limited to 8 P cores.
I don't understand why these companies are making lower tier handhelds. I understand saving money, but if you're already shelling out for that price, why not spend a little more for the best product?
Intel needs to step up I feel msi should have made two variants a intel version but a amd one as well to give that option open especially since this intel ultra is struggling to even be considered competition to the rog ally
I think its names the claw for that "akward" finger position you have to make in order to press the shoulder buttons... if thats the case it was a not very wise decision...
This power management unconsistency tell us about the little effort by MSI in tuning (by software) this system. Yes, a lot of fancy apps to manage everything but when it comes to power managements all becomes a mess
Yeah this feels like an MSI firmware issue to me. There is some serious inconsistency with this thing including the 135H clobbering the 155H in Night Raid (7.9k vs 12k).
You cannot really compare to Steamdeck since it does not have a 1080p screen (not even 900p). But looks like Intel is hugely behind on power efficiency (it was visible on the desktop side of things with 12/13/14gen) and it shows ... EDIT: Another thing is, you can run Windows or SteamOS on the AMD based ones while you can only run Windows on the Intel ... the iGPU drivers under linux are garbage.
I have the SD Oled and the Legion Go but I have this on pre order (155H). Should arrive on Wednesday. I don’t understand all the hate. The thing clearly has the ability to perform but is in its absolute infancy at the moment. The ROG Ally (which I owned until the GO arrived) was nothing like the device it is now when it first launched, same for SD & GO. The Claw need a few months of updates before we will truly know its capabilities. It’s in the hands of MSI and Intel now to provide good and frequent updates and tweaks. I bought it for use with the GPD G1 when I travel with work. Claw + G1 + TV or Monitor = a great systems for both handheld gaming and docked performance.
I know this is a first impression, but I find this disappointing from MSI. I'm not their fanboy however I'm rooting for them all the same, competition breeds excellence and all that jazz. Personally, I'm tired of companies bringing half-baked products to the market. MSI should have optimized power settings for the Claw from the get-go instead of this lackluster performance, now we will have to wait at least six months if we are lucky before their products are well-optimized. Whatever happened to buying products that are plug-and-play ready? Valve, Asus, and Lenovo are all guilty of such practices. Their devices were not well optimized upon initial launch but slowly got better over time with updates, the jury is still out on the Legion Go. I have no doubt the Claw will be optimized over time but why do we consumers have to be subjected to such nonsense, is it our fault that we allowed this behavior by endorsing these products with all their initial "sub-par performance" to the point where it's now a blueprint and standard for all these manufactures? If it's not game studios rushing buggy games to the market, then it's hardware manufacturers. Man, being a gamer sucks, straight up 😁
I knew this was DOA when I heard it had an Intel chip... Then the price was announced... Then the hands on vids with benchmarks... They did they even bother......
