**MSI Gaming Claw: A Comprehensive Review**
The MSI Gaming Claw is a handheld gaming device that has been generating significant buzz in the gaming community. As an enthusiast, I was excited to dive into this new product and share my first impressions. While the device shows promise, there are still some areas where it needs improvement.
One of the most notable aspects of the Gaming Claw is its performance. In a few hours of playing with the device, I noticed a few stutters, which gave me pause. I need to see how the handheld performs in more demanding scenarios, such as playing popular games like Apples to Apples. Additionally, there have been some criticisms about the Claw's performance compared to other handhelds, so it will be interesting to compare its performance to others.
MSI has implemented a cooling system that helps keep the device at bay when gaming. While I didn't notice any significant issues with heat during my testing, it's worth noting that some users may experience a bit of warmth toward the center of the device. However, this shouldn't be a concern for most users, as the edges where your hands are resting remain perfectly cool.
The Gaming Claw is also equipped with MSI's software called Center M, which allows users to control and manage their games. The interface is not too dense at first glance, but it provides all the necessary features and settings that one would expect from a gaming handheld. Users can launch individual applications, manager settings, and even access a quick settings menu for customization.
One of the standout features of Center M is its performance. In my testing, I was impressed by how smoothly the app responded to inputs, without any issues or quirks like the overlay getting confused about what to show. The app registered my controller inputs accurately, which was a relief. However, there were some minor issues with the software, such as an FPS bug and occasional switching between desktop and game mode for controls. Thankfully, these issues were minimal and never occurred during gameplay.
MSI allows users to set up two different sets of bindings depending on whether they're on the desktop or in-game. While this feature was convenient, it occasionally switched between modes unexpectedly. However, this can be toggled off in the Quick Settings menu, so it didn't become a significant issue for me.
The unit I tested is the flagship model, based on the Intel Core Ultra 7-155h processor and featuring 16 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD. Users are free to swap out the SSD if they choose with their own m.2 2230 drive from early Impressions.
As for the device's overall feel, I was pleased with its design and build quality. The Calla looks pretty good, feels great in the hands, and has smooth buttons and sticks. However, performance and battery life are two areas that need to be thoroughly tested before a full review can be written.
Fortunately, we've already seen a handful of BIOS updates from MSI and new drivers from Intel since the Claw's launch, so it will be interesting to see where the device ends up after further testing. In the meantime, I'd love to hear your thoughts about the Gaming Claw in the comments below. If you want to see more videos with this device and other gaming handhelds, I'm happy to share my impressions and experiences.
In conclusion, while the MSI Gaming Claw has some exciting features, there are still some areas that need improvement. With further testing and updates, it's possible that we'll see a more polished and refined product. For now, I remain excited about this new device and look forward to sharing my full review in the coming days.
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enI've been very interested in the MSI Claw ever since I got my hands on it at CES earlier this year not only is it the first Windows handheld from MSI it's also the first one to pack one of Intel's meteor like CPUs combine that with a 120 HZ 1080p screen and some bold battery life claims and the Claw is an exciting entry into the world of handhelds and now I finally have my hands on one I'm going to be unboxing it taking a quick first look at how it feels performs and how MSI software holdsup now this video is sponsored by MSI to take a quick look at the Claw but it didn't have any input on the content of this video we don't do paid reviews so these are my honest first impressions of the device I'll be doing a full written review on digitaltrends.com where I'll cover battery life in-depth performance testing and all the nuances you don't pick up on immediately after taking the device out of the box you'll find that Linked In the description below when it goes live with that out of the way make sure to get subscribed and let's dig in there's not much in the Box for the Claw you get the device itself a handful of manuals and a surprisingly long power brick but that's it there's no extra stand like you get with the Ally and no case like you get with the Steam Deck OLED it's really just the device and a charger the feel in the hands is very similar to the Rog Ally with these angled corner corners and two buttons on the rear that you can remap the buttons and stick actually feel a lot nicer here though the Claw is a bit heavier at 675 G but it's not overbearing like the Lenovo Legion go the extra weight is probably due to the thermal design as you can see on the back there's this dense stack of fins to keep the device cool outside the face buttons you have the USBC charging port which supports display port and Thunderbolt 4 so you can hook up an external GPU as well as a micro SD card slot and a headphone jack you also have a power button with a fingerprint rear built-in so you can sign in with Windows hello taking the Claw out of the box two things stood out immediately the Dual 2 wat speakers are super loud and surprisingly full and the Wi-Fi is crazy fast the Claw supports Wi-Fi 7 and my game downloads flew by it's a definite upgrade from the Wi-Fi 5 on the Steam Deck that much is for sure I installed a handful of games and everything ran pretty well lighter game games like Hades 2 and another Krabs treasure were definitely smoother getting close to that 120 HZ refresh rate that the display is capable of a more demanding tile like Elden ring didn't Faire as well hovering around 40 FPS even when running the game at 720p one bug I ran into was that the performance overlay wasn't showing my frame rate it reported all the other stats correctly but it wouldn't hook into the games when I was actually playing them hopefully MSI will fix that shortly even with that the gameplay experience for lighter titles is pretty good and a lot of that comes down to the screen I booted up the beautiful Tetris effect to see how the screen handled the immense contrast in that game and it looked incredible this is an IPS display so it's not quite as deep as what you get with like you know the Steam Deck OLED but it's surprisingly close with its glossy coating I'll be doing more direct benchmarks for my full review but for those lighter titles that I typically like playing on a handheld like Hades 2, Another Crab’s Treasure, and Tetris Effect you kind of get the gist the Claw worked surprisingly well it didn't get very hot either the fans were a little loud not enough to be distracting but I couldn't feel the heat on the back of the device although I tried out a few games this isn't an endorsement of the Claw's performance at least not yet I noticed a few stutters even in a couple hours of playing with the device and I need to see how the handheld performs in an Apples to Apples power scenario there's already been some criticism of the Claw performance compared to other handhelds so that's definitely something I need to take a closer look at when I get to my full review MSI cooling is doing something after playing a game you can feel a bit of heat toward the center of the device but the edges where your hands are feel totally fine the Claw is a bit heavier than the ROG Ally but I'll take that if it can stay cool outside of playing games you'll control the device through MSI software called Center M it's not too dense right now but you can still see all of your games launch individual applications and manager settings you also have access to a quick settings menu that you can pull up at anytime and customize with the features you want it's clear that Center m is still a work in progress though I I don't mean that in a bad way but I suspect that MSI will continue adding features and settings to the app like we've seen with other gaming handhelds I'm really happy with what's here so far though the big thing about Center M that I really appreciate is that it is smooth running these types of apps over Windows usually causes problems the app takes a while to respond to inputs the overlay gets confused about if it should show up or not and sometimes your controller inexplicably won't work for my first look Center M really didn't have those problems the overlay and app itself popped up immediately and it always registered my inputs the only quirks I ran into with the software were the aforementioned FPS bug and the app occasionally switching between desktop and game mode for the controls now MSI allows you to set up two different sets of bindings depending on if you're on the desktop or if you're in the game and sometimes it would switch when it wasn't supposed to thankfully this never happened while I was in a game it usually just happened when I booted one up and the good news is you can toggle between them in the Quick Settings menu so it never really became a problem now the unit I looked at here I need to note this is the flagship model if you can call it that it's based on the Intel Core Ultra 7 155h and it comes with 16 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD and you're still free to swap out the SSD if you choose with your own m.2 2230 drive from early Impressions the Calla looks pretty good it feels feels good in the hands the buttons and sticks are smooth and it doesn't get too hot however performance and battery life are some pretty important areas for a handheld and they're going to be two things that I really focus on when I do my full review I mean when I'm shooting this I've had this thing for a few hours so I definitely need more time with it before I'm ready to come to any firm conclusions thankfully we've already seen a handful of BIOS updates from MSI and new drivers from Intel since the Claw launch so it'll be really interesting to see where the device ends up at after I've had a chance to fully test it but in the meantime let me know what you think about the Claw in the comments below and if you want to see more videos with it and other gaming handhelds I honestly I love these things so it'd be great to talk about them more while you're down there make sure to leave a like on this video and get subscribed all right thanks for watching everyone I will see you in the next video\n"
