I am not giving away my Steam Deck for MSI’s new Claw

This is not a review of the MSI Claw 8 EX AI Plus, the first gaming handheld equipped with Intel’s new Arc G3 Extreme handheld processor. Now that my friend Sean Hollister has finished reviewing the Steam Machine, I’ll let him go more in-depth on the new Claw sometime in the future. This article, in fact, is my first look at the new MSI Claw as a person playing games on the Steam Deck OLED. Sean called the Whip “in the hands of the next generation,” and I wanted to know: Would it be the right upgrade for Deck fans like me? Could it be the eye-watering price of $1,799?

For me, Claw has a lot of bars to clear. The $789 Steam Ship OLED it’s my favorite handheld – maybe my favorite device – since the Nintendo Switch. It’s easy to hold, has a great design, and has enough battery life to get me through every night of gaming for me. It allows me to play most of my Steam library wherever I want. But Deck is not good each one sports I have; Top AAA games sometimes play poorly, with muddy graphics, bad pricing, or both. I will struggle with multiplayer issues, but once in a while, I turn to my PS5 for titles that don’t work well on Deck.

I tried several games on the new Claw, always running on battery, which pushes the limits of the Steam Deck OLED to see how it compares, including the best of this year. 007 The Greatest Light, Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade (which I want to play again already and Remake The trilogy ends next year), and Chiaroscuro: Expedition 33.

Without me changing a single setting, the changes were immediately apparent: All three looked much better than they did on my Steam Deck. In FFVIICloud’s brown hair had a slight fringe, and I could see the expression on his face when it was turned. Fake fireworks at the airport Very BrightI had a very easy time seeing where the enemies were shooting at me from.

The frame rates were very good, too. I am FFVIIClaw and Deck both changed to 30fps, but after changing the frame rate, the game ran between 70-100fps on Claw, even during the boss fight with the Scorpion Sentinel, but still struggled to hit 60fps consistently on Deck. Around Very BrightA full chess match at the fictional Grand Carpathian hotel, I saw between 80-90fps – The ship is usually around 35fps – and even when I dropped everything to Ultra on the Claw, I was still running 60-70fps. 007 The Greatest LightThe default setting for all handhelds was 1280 x 800 for the potato version, however, things didn’t look much different on the Claw without the adjustment. But on the move the game looks great and plays well.

The 33rd visit it was not very good. From one minute, it seems more sharper on the Claw than it is on the Deck, where it’s often a mess. On Claw, fixed changes in The 33rd visit it maintained a steady 30-40fps in the game’s opening setting, but flicking on Intel’s XeSS upscaler and frame rate toggles gave me a smooth 70-90fps.

However, there was a glitchy image problem where characters and objects could become strangely shiny or black at the edges of close-up shots during battles and cutscenes.

Each game used a lot of energy on Claw. In Very BrightI usually see a battery drain of about 35W on the Claw and between 22-23W on the Ship, for example. But with the Claw’s larger 80Whr battery, compared to the Deck’s 50Whr battery, it means both handsets can get a full two hours of battery life, despite the Claw’s changing shape and appearance.

I also ran some very light games on the Claw to see how the Intel chip would compare to what’s available on the Steam Deck: Balatropoker game as a rogue. All the handhelds were drained of energy at this point Balatrobattery drain around 14W and 9W, respectively. If I reduce the TDP of each chip to the lowest it can go and maintain 60 frames per second, it looks like the Claw and Deck OLED can last for over six hours, so no real upgrade there.

Overall, playing on the Claw feels great. But the Windows handheld software on the Claw is awful compared to the straightforwardness of SteamOS on the Steam Deck. When I first downloaded Claw, I had to go through various Windows screens to download and install, and it took. an hour and a half Before I started I found a way to install and install Steam. This could be a Wi-Fi problem, but there weren’t too many hoops to jump through, and I didn’t like jumping confusingly between the four layers of Windows, Xbox Mode, MSI software, and Steam.

I also don’t think Claw gear is worth paying for on the Steam Deck OLED. The Claw has a number of features over the Ship, including a large 8-inch screen, Hall-resistant analog sticks, and prongs with “laser-shaped dots” that are easy to grip. But the Claw has an IPS LCD display that isn’t as bright as the Deck’s OLED screen, it’s heavier than the Deck (785g vs. 640g), and it doesn’t have the Deck’s built-in hardware, which I like to use as an accessory for my games. Menu and View buttons on Claw felt just too far from my thumb, which makes pausing a game more difficult than it should be. And I don’t like the RGB lights around the Claw’s accessories – gaming lighting has never been my thing – although you can turn it off in the settings.

So, to answer my first questions, is Claw an upgrade for my Deck OLED? In my few hours of testing, I’m not sure. Sure, I lack power, but the Deck is a comfortable device for me to use. Is the Claw the better option for someone deciding between it and the Deck OLED? That is a difficult question to answer; Windows mobile still has access to many games such as Fortnite which is not compatible with Linux due to anti-cheat software. That flexibility and functionality can be a starting point if you have $1,700 to spend on hand.

If you’re really on the fence, I suggest you wait for my friend Sean’s deep dive. But I’m not giving up on my Deck, and I don’t think you should rush out to get Claw, especially since there are still a lot of software problems that need to be solved. They are not worth participating in a device more expensive than Valve’s.