MSI Claw: Intel-powered gaming handheld comes to Malaysia, priced from RM3,499

Just over a month since it made its debut at CES 2024, the MSI Claw gaming handheld console is now coming to Malaysia. This ROG Ally rival is quite special not only because it would be the latest large manufacturer to join the product segment, but also because it’s the first gaming handheld to come powered by Intel Core Ultra processors.

MSI Claw Malaysia pricing and availability

Pre-orders for the MSI Claw will begun on the 9th of March till the 21st of March at their official Shopee store as well as their authorised retailers nationwide, with MSI also throwing in an accessory bundle worth RM499 for all pre-orders. You’ll be able to choose between two configurations of the MSI Claw, which are:

• MSI Claw, Intel Core Ultra 5 135H, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD – RM3,499
• MSI Claw, Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD – RM3,999

MSI Claw specs

The MSI Claw features a fairly familiar design to the other gaming handhelds out there in the market now, with an ergonomic design that MSI claims has been tailored for comfort and precision to fit the grip of your hands. On the front of the device is the 7-inch IPS touchscreen display, pushing a 1080p resolution with a 120Hz refresh rate, full coverage of the sRGB colour gamut and able to output up to 500nits of brightness.

Under the hood though is where the MSI Claw stands out. It comes with the new Intel Meteor Lake processors that Team Blue revealed back in December last year, with your choice between the Intel Core Ultra 5 135H or the more powerful Intel Core Ultra 7 155H. The Intel Core Ultra 7 155H packs six P-cores, eight E-cores and two more low power E-cores along with eight Intel Arc Xe cores, while the Core Ultra 5 135H has two fewer P-cores and one less GPU core, all clocked a little lower too. It also comes with 16GB of dual channel LPDDR5 RAM and up to 1TB of PCIe Gen 4 SSD storage. Keeping it all cool meanwhile is a MSI Cooler Boost HyperFlow cooling system with two fans and dual heatpipes.

The MSI Claw, like the ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go before it, features Windows 11 pre-installed of course for maximum compatibility with games, with an additional MSI Center M software for managing your library of titles and performance settings. There’s also Hall effect triggers and joysticks for more precise controls and longer lasting joysticks, along with your standard array of ABXY, D-pad keys and additional macro keys The MSI Claw comes with dual 2W speakers too, while a 53Wh battery keeps the lights on.

As for I/O you’ll find a USB-C Thunderbolt 4 port up top, a microSD card slot and a 3.5mm combo audio jack while the power button itself has a fingerprint sensor on it for biometric security. The MSI Claw also comes with support for WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 wireless connectivity. It comes in just a single Black colour option, with the MSI logo emblazoned on the back panel, with the entire device weighing in at just 675g.

For a quick comparison, the ROG Ally is still the cheaper device here, priced at RM3,299 for their top spec model with the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme mated to 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Furthermore, with the ROG Ally being the more mature product at this point compared to the MSI Claw might be something worth considering. Of course, the MSI Claw does have some extras that the ROG Ally doesn’t, such as Hall effect joysticks and a larger battery.