MSI Claw 7 AI+ now official to rival Asus ROG Ally X at $799
It is fair to say that the MSI Claw landed to mixed reviews at best earlier this year. On MSI and Intel's parts, they have sought to improve gaming performance since the handheld's launch. However, there is no escaping the fact that the Intel Meteor Lake platform fares poorly in a compact form factor compared with AMD's recent efforts.
However, MSI has now graced the Claw with Intel's more adept Lunar Lake architecture instead. For reference, the Claw 7 AI+ arrives alongside the larger Claw 8 AI+, launch details for which we have covered separately. In short, little has visually changed between the original MSI Claw and the Claw 7 AI+. However, MSI has added a second Thunderbolt 4 port.
Meanwhile, Amazon US and Excaliber PC confirm that the Claw 7 AI+ combines the Core Ultra 7 258V with 32 GB of LPDDR5X-8533 RAM. Although 512 GB of storage remains, this should now be an M.2 2280 SSD rather than the M.2 2230 equivalent inside the original MSI Claw. A 53 Wh battery returns though, as does a 7-inch IPS display that outputs at 1080p, 120 Hz VRR and 500 nits.
Currently, the Claw 7 AI+ is available to pre-order on Amazon US and Excaliber PC for $799. Please note that while the former claims that the gaming handheld will officially arrive on December 1, the latter reports a December 25 arrival date.
Source(s)
Amazon US, Excaliber PC & MSI via r/MSI Claw, @TechDropsDeals & VideoCardz
