MSI has officially announced its second attempt at handheld gaming PCs with the new Claw. The MSI Claw 7 AI+ and MSI Claw 8 AI+ are two new models coming from the brand in early 2025 powered by the Intel Lunar Lake processor. Certain regions will get the products on 25 December and pre-orders are open now.
MSI says that the MSI Claw 7 AI+ and MSI Claw 8 AI+ will retail for $799 and $899 respectively. At first glance, the Claw 8 seems to be the no-brainer model with some notable differences over the Claw 7. So much so that I am not sure why anyone would even look at the Claw 7.
The Claw 8 packs an 80-watt-hour battery and an easy-access SSD storage slot. The Claw 7 only includes a 53-watt-hour battery and no easy-access SSD slot. You’ll seemingly need to open up the device to manually upgrade the SSD. The Claw 8, of course, includes an 8-inch IPS display and the Claw 7 is only 7 inches. Both models come with the same Core Ultra 7 258V processor.
We don’t know when MSI will launch the new Claw 8 and Claw 7 in South Africa. I have reached out to the brand for more information. I will update you when I hear more.
While the original MSI Claw didn’t do well on the market, this new model seemingly has a bright future. From early tests with the new Lunar Lake CPU, it holds up for gaming. It will be interesting to see how performance pans out for these new handhelds, especially compared to the upcoming AMD Z2 Extreme.
Source: MSI News
