00:00I've been testing and reviewing every MSI CLAW ever since the original CLAW 7 years ago,
00:05but with the new CLAW 8 EX AI Plus, I think this is the biggest upgrade we have ever seen
00:10to this
00:11series. Now, here's why I think this handheld is definitely going to be one of the more interesting
00:14choices in 2026. It's the design. It's basically copying the ROG Xbox Ally, which introduced
00:21deeper and rounder grips on the back, giving you that more full-size Xbox-like controller
00:27with a screen wedge between it. But unlike the ROG Xbox Ally, which only has a 7-inch screen,
00:35this still has a massive 8-inch display, 1920 by 1200, so it's even taller. You can actually see
00:42that little bit of a bump at the bottom there, which I think is pretty cool. Testing it out,
00:45the flare grips feel about the same size, and the button layout feels very familiar. And with the
00:49new dot texture panel on the back, it helps prevent slipping. But they also made a few other refinements.
00:54The triggers and sticks are now hall effects. Same for the D-pad and the ABXY, which are built
01:00on a metal dome mechanism. So there's less of that spongy mushiness that we had on previous CLAWs.
01:06And here's also another update that you can't see, but I can definitely feel. Under the controls here,
01:11we have upgraded haptics, giving you more of that rumble experience that you do get
01:17with a traditional Xbox controller. So yeah, it's not just Asus now. MSI is coming after that portable
01:22Xbox experience. And when you combine those new controls, which allow you to play your games for
01:27much longer, along with a larger display, you are getting the best of both worlds. As far as colors
01:33go, right now you only have this darker purple, which personally I am a fan of. I think it stands
01:38out from the sea of other black and white devices. But I know a lot of gamers do prefer those
01:43more
01:43traditional colors. But as you can see, MSI is definitely experimenting with cooler and more
01:52out there colors. So it's not really much of a surprise that they're also bringing it to their
01:57handhelds. So the new CLAW 8 can be configured up to 32 gigabytes of LPDDR5 RAM with up to a
02:03one
02:03terabyte PCIe Gen 4 SSD. But besides that, you get two two watt speakers, two Thunderbolt 4 ports,
02:09and a micro SD card slot, along with a 3.5 millimeter jack on the top. Inside, there's Wi-Fi
02:157 and Bluetooth 6. And all of this comes in a package that weighs 1.7 pounds. With the new
02:21Intel
02:21Arc G3 Extreme Processor here, this has been tuned specifically for gaming handheld workloads. Fewer
02:27CPU cores than a typical laptop chip, but we're getting more headroom for the GPU, along with better
02:33efficiency and smoother sustained frame rates. The new chip supports real-time ray tracing and XES-S3,
02:38which combines AI-based upscaling, multi-frame generation, and XE low latency for reduced
02:44input lag. Now to keep all this performance sustainable, MSI has also upgraded the cooler
02:49boost hyperflow system. We have two fans with two heat pipes and five watts more of cooling headroom
02:55versus the previous generation. What that translates to is up to 45 watts of sustained power in this
03:00chassis when you're plugged in, which for a handheld is a very serious number. So far, there are only a
03:07few
03:07games that I could test out, but here are the results that I saw. Hogwarts Legacy at 1200p medium
03:13with ray tracing, XES-S3 set to balanced. With multi-gen set to four times, we were getting 160
03:20frames per second. On a handheld, that's pretty impressive. Battlefield 6 at 1080p high, XES-S3
03:26performance, no frame gen, about 65 frames per second. And then F125 at 1200p high with ray tracing,
03:33XES-S3 set to auto, multi-frame gen set to four times, we were getting about 180 frames per second.
03:40And with all these tests that we're showing you here, the important thing is that you want to have
03:44a solid base frame rate. With single player games like Hogwarts Legacy, 30 frames per second is a
03:50good base, but with faster paced games like Battlefield 6 like we're now showing, you're going
03:54to want to get at least 60 frames per second. And of course, the other thing that you can do
03:58is
03:58pair this with a wireless controller and use this as your docked console with a large screen setup
04:04like this. So this is running 4K high settings, no ray tracing, with XES-S running on performance,
04:10and you're getting around 85 to 90 frames per second. So yeah, obviously not to the level of
04:15like an Xbox Series X, but for something this portable, this small, they can basically take
04:20anywhere, that's still pretty impressive. But you know what your Xbox can't do? Productivity.
04:25You can use this as a mini PC. And right now we've got it running and connected with two
04:30external monitors. You know, you could have your Photoshop over here on the left. You could run
04:36your Steam games on the other monitor. And thanks to the added processing power and the 32 gigabytes of
04:43RAM, you can actually get a lot of multitasking done with the small little PC. Now here's what's
04:48interesting. Besides the M-Cyclaw 8EX that I saw, the other first devices confirmed to ship with the
04:54new ArcG series chips also include the Acer Predator Atlas 8 and the One X Player 3. More models are
05:01anticipated to be announced later this year. But for now, of these three that I've tested, I think
05:06the Claw 8EX has the best balance of screen size and ergonomics. And it's probably going to be the
05:11handheld most people gravitate towards. But you know what else is also important besides your actual
05:15gaming performance? Battery life. Obviously you want to take this and play this on the go for as long
05:19as possible. Inside we still have the 80 watt hour battery, but because this chip is more efficient
05:25now, we could see the squeeze out a couple extra hours depending on the game and settings you're
05:29playing on. All right, so that's all pretty good. But one important question remains, pricing. Well,
05:35when I was speaking with their team, they said they were targeting $1,500 with a release date of June
05:3923rd. Given that the rumors were suggesting that this could cost upwards of $2,000, this is a relief.
05:45That said, it's still a very expensive device. But I think we have a lot of new upgrades here that
05:51if
05:51you've been holding onto a handheld from maybe two or three years ago, not only are we getting the
05:57performance improvements, we're getting a great combination of ergonomics, screen size, and weight
06:03that I think this might be one of the best handhelds of 2026. But let me know your thoughts in
06:08the
06:08comments down below and make sure you're subscribed for more gaming handheld content. And until the next one,
06:12I'll catch you later.
06:15Bye.
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