The MSI Claw is a Mess: Gaming Handheld Can't Compete | Review & Benchmarks
Summary
TLDRThe video script discusses the MSI Claw, a handheld gaming device, in comparison to its competitors. It highlights the Claw's inconsistent performance, high price point, and average battery life. Despite its strong performance in certain games, the device's overall value and user experience are questioned, especially when compared to more affordable options with better frame time pacing and battery performance. The review suggests that while the Claw offers variety in the handheld gaming market, it currently does not provide the best value for consumers.
Takeaways
- 📦 MSI's Claw handheld gaming device was reviewed, with skepticism due to past experiences with the company's review strategies.
- 💰 The Claw's $800 price point raised concerns, especially when compared to other handheld gaming devices on the market.
- 🔧 The review sample from MSI had been tampered with, leading to a decision to use a personally purchased unit for the review.
- 🔩 The Claw's hardware was found to be similar to the Asus Ally, but with some differences in design and button placement.
- 🔋 The Claw's battery life was tested, showing mixed results compared to other devices, with the super battery mode extending life significantly.
- 🎮 Gaming performance of the Claw was inconsistent, with frame pacing issues observed in certain games like Cyberpunk 2077.
- 🔌 Charging capabilities of the Claw were praised, with the fastest charge time among the tested devices despite having a large battery.
- 🌡️ Thermal issues were noted during a full torture workload, with the Claw's temperature reaching concerning levels and affecting performance.
- 💻 Software experience on the Claw was criticized for being unintuitive and inconsistent, with the user interface and power modes being a point of frustration.
- 🛍️ The Claw's overall value was questioned, with other devices offering better performance or battery life at lower prices.
- 📈 The review concluded that while the Claw has some strengths, its inconsistencies and high price point make it a less attractive option compared to alternatives.
Q & A
What was MSI's initial response to sending a review sample for its claw?
-MSI initially didn't want to send a review sample for its claw, despite it having launched in non-US markets, because it wasn't available in the US at the time.
How much did the reviewer pay for the MSI claw in Taiwan?
-The reviewer paid $800 for the MSI claw in Taiwan.
What was the issue with the review sample MSI sent?
-The review sample from MSI had been tampered with, as it already had a Windows account created, games installed, and 3 Mark traces left behind, which was not the case for the retail version the reviewer bought.
How does the MSI claw compare in price to other handheld devices from major brands?
-The $800 model of the MSI claw is more expensive than top-tier offerings from Valve, Asus, and Lenovo, which are already slashing prices on first-gen models. The claw's performance needs to be indisputably strong to justify its higher price.
What are some of the software issues the reviewer encountered with the MSI Center M on the claw?
-The reviewer experienced problems such as the software not responding logically to input, difficulty in navigation, and an inconsistent user experience. The software felt like it was retrofitted from a desktop rather than built for a handheld device with different inputs.
How does the battery life of the MSI claw compare to other handheld devices?
-The MSI claw has a 53Wh battery, which is the largest among the tested devices. However, its battery life was not the best, with the Steam Deck OLED showing significantly better performance in the same tests.
What were the reviewer's subjective experiences using the MSI claw on a long flight?
-The reviewer found that during a long flight, the key aspects were that the device was playable with consistent frame rates and had good battery life. They did not care about specifics like higher FPS, but rather about distraction from the flight experience.
What are the reviewer's recommendations for handheld devices based on value and performance?
-The reviewer recommends the Asus Ally Z1 Extreme for the highest performance per dollar, the Aya Neo LED for a good balance of battery life, screen quality, and price, and the Ally Z1 non-extreme as a competitive budget choice due to significant discounts.
What is the reviewer's opinion on the MSI claw's frame time pacing?
-The reviewer experienced serious frame time spikes and inconsistencies with the MSI claw, which led to an overall poor and stuttery gaming experience, making the device less desirable compared to alternatives.
What is the charging capability of the MSI claw?
-The MSI claw has the fastest charging rate among the devices tested, capable of charging from 0% to 100% in 76 minutes with the included charger.
What potential issue could be causing performance inconsistencies on the MSI claw?
-The performance inconsistencies on the MSI claw could be due to insufficient cooling, leading to thermal throttling, especially when the device is charging while gaming in its maximum power profile.
Outlines
📦 Unboxing and Initial Impressions of the MSI Claw
The paragraph discusses the initial experience with the MSI Claw, highlighting the challenges of obtaining a review sample due to its unavailability in the US market. It also touches on the skepticism towards MSI's strategy and the reviewer's decision to purchase the device in Taiwan. The encounter with the store clerk and the observation of the product's popularity are also mentioned, along with the discovery of a tampered review sample from MSI and the decision to use the personally bought device for the review.
💻 MSI Claw's Software, Design, and Community Reception
This section delves into the software experience of the MSI Claw, including the issues with the MSI Center M software and its unintuitive user interface. It also discusses the ergonomics and design of the device, comparing it to other models like the Asus Ally. The paragraph further explores the community's reception of the Claw, noting the lack of engagement in official forums and the larger user base of competing devices. A secret feature involving the Claw's AI engine is mentioned, which adjusts power modes, audio, and lighting settings based on user activity.
🔋 Battery Life and Hardware Specifications of the MSI Claw
The focus of this paragraph is on the battery life and hardware specifications of the MSI Claw. It compares the weight and battery capacity of the Claw to its competitors, discussing the implications of the larger cooler and the device's higher weight. The paragraph also details the different variants of the Claw, their pricing, and how they compare to other offerings in the market. The software experience, particularly the BIOS and the lack of control over display settings, is critiqued. Additionally, the paragraph touches on the Claw's joysticks and screen quality, comparing them to other devices.
🎮 Gaming Performance and Frame Time Analysis of the MSI Claw
This section provides an in-depth analysis of the MSI Claw's gaming performance and frame time consistency. It compares the Claw's performance in various games, such as Resident Evil 4 and Cyberpunk 2077, to other handheld devices. The paragraph highlights the issues with frame time pacing and the impact on the gaming experience. The performance of the Claw in different power modes is also discussed, with a focus on how it compares to the competition in terms of frame rates and power efficiency. The paragraph concludes with a look at the charging capabilities of the Claw and its thermal performance during intensive tasks.
🛫 Real-World Experience with the MSI Claw on a Flight
The paragraph shares the reviewer's personal experience using the MSI Claw on a long flight. It emphasizes the importance of consistent frame rates and battery life in such a scenario, where the focus is on entertainment value rather than technical specifications. The reviewer's subjective impressions of the Claw's performance, battery life, and value for money are discussed, along with a comparison to other devices. The paragraph also touches on the software overlay experience and the occurrence of crashes. The conclusion drawn from this real-world test is that there are better alternatives available, offering more value and a superior gaming experience.
💸 Value and Recommendation for the MSI Claw
The final paragraph summarizes the overall assessment of the MSI Claw, focusing on its value proposition and performance inconsistencies. It critiques the high price point and the device's inability to stand out among its competitors. The paragraph also discusses the potential reasons behind the creation of the Claw, possibly due to Intel's marketing development fund. A comparison to other devices, such as the Asus Ally and the Steam Deck, is made, highlighting their strengths and the Claw's shortcomings. The paragraph concludes with recommendations for potential buyers, suggesting that there are more cost-effective options with better performance and reliability available in the market.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡MSI Claw
💡Review Sample
💡Performance
💡Battery Life
💡Software
💡Anthropometry
💡Power Profiles
💡Charging
💡Thermal Management
💡Value
Highlights
MSI initially reluctant to send a review sample for its Claw, despite its launch in non-US markets.
The reviewer purchased an MSI Claw in Taiwan for $800, prompting MSI to offer a review sample.
MSI's general strategy is to delay sending out review units, which has led to skepticism.
The Claw faced availability issues in Taiwan, with the local store having it for a month.
The review sample from MSI had been tampered with, raising concerns about its integrity.
MSI's Claw is more expensive than competitors like Valve, Asus, and Lenovo.
The Claw's performance was not strong enough to justify its price against competitors.
The Claw's design is similar to the Asus Ally, but with some differences in grip and button placement.
MSI Center M software has a clumsy UI and lacks some basic functionality.
The Claw's power profiles and AI engine offer limited customization and inconsistent user experience.
MSI's community resources like the subreddit and forum are abandoned, indicating a lack of user engagement.
The Claw's hardware includes hall effect joysticks and a larger cooler, but the performance is inconsistent.
Battery life tests show the Claw has the largest battery tested, but its performance is not the best.
The Claw's charging capabilities are impressive, with the fastest charge time among tested devices.
Thermal testing reveals the Claw experiences high temperatures and occasional throttling during heavy workloads.
In a real-world scenario like a long flight, the Claw's inconsistent performance and value for money are highlighted.
The reviewer would choose alternatives like the Asus Ally or Steam Deck over the MSI Claw for personal use.
Transcripts
ew it's
squishy that lag right there on the
explosion oh
man MSI initially didn't want to send us
a review sample for its claw even though
it had launched in non us markets it's
just it wasn't available in the us at
the time so we had few options to get
one that's fine we I was flying to
Taiwan anyway so uh I replied and said
no worries I'll buy one and I did it was
$800 MSI immediately replied and said
wait a minute we'll send you one that
always makes us a little skeptical just
because our past with MSI indicates that
the company's General strategy for
things is to delay as long as possible
not sure if that's what was going on
here or not but uh I genuinely we're
we're skeptical it's happened a lot in
the past and it'll take a while for them
to cure that skepticism but it was
immediately apparent when in on that
stock was plentiful in home turf and in
fact MSI has a different problem than
not being able to send units out the
problem is uh the store clerk was
extremely confused why I would want to
buy
one you're
first and that is one of the most
popular PC stores if not the most
popular in taipe uh and they had had it
for about a month at that point so
that's not good news uh I asked what is
everyone buying and he said the Asus
Ally and if you look at
them they're really similar when we did
get the unit from MSI oddly that unit
the review sample had been tampered with
despite them saying it represent retail
it had a Windows account created already
it had games installed it had 3 Mark
traces left behind and none of this was
included in the outof boox version that
we bought the US device clearly had been
used and we never trust review Hardware
when it's been tampered with and it has
an operating system on it not
necessarily for malicious concerns
although for some companies that is also
a concern in this instance it was really
just a concern of has it been improved
somehow like by changing power profiles
by changing some bio settings something
we might not be aware of so uh we sh
that unit and we decided to use the one
that I bought instead for this review
and this was my first impression of the
device ew and our second impression was
the claw sounded like it was dying
except it's a
feature before that this video is
brought to you by lean Lee and the o1d
Evo RGB case the o1d Evo RGB is an
updated entry to the fed1 lineup
retaining heavy support for fan mounts
Drive Mount locations and flexibility on
component mounting such as two options
for the power supply the O 11d Evo rgb's
dual chamber approach aims to maximize
cable storage on the backside to
streamline Cable Management coupling
this with a unique vertical GPU Mount to
showcase the most expensive part in most
systems learn more at the link in the
description below Intel is rare among
handhelds it technically is out there
you can find it in the GPD you can find
it in some 1X Player devices but
generally speaking all the big names are
using AMD Solutions the 78 40u the 8840
U or the Z1 extreme all of which are
functionally the same chip MSI however
is selling three variants an ultra 7155
model with a 1 tab drive for $800 it's
what we bought the same but 512 GB for
$750 and an Ultra 5 135h model with a
512 GB drive for 700 bucks the $800
model is more expensive than the top
tier offering from valve that's 650 and
from Asus at 700 and Lenovo actually at
750 and that's just the MSRP for them
that's ignoring the sale prices MSI is
entering the competition against
powerful opponents that are already
slashing prices on first gen models and
open box units the Asus allly Z1
non-extreme can be had for 400 bucks now
and given that especially it's half the
price of the claw the others are all
cheaper than it the claw's performance
has to be indisputably strong
and it's not and we'll talk about that
in the review it's actually still pretty
interesting let's let's address the
obvious part first though it looks like
an ally could be coincidence but either
way the Ally was first to Market and it
makes this look and feel basically the
same there are small differences the
Allies grips flow into the back more
gradually the shape and positioning of
the claw rear buttons isn't as good and
these are subtle changes for the most
part the claw handle is exactly the same
as an ally except with a disgustingly
squishy bumper button that just sinks on
press it'd be like if you damped your
keyboard switch with
Jello for our money the cushy grips on
the deck and the legion go are more
comfortable than either despite the Ergo
gaming science of comfort achieving
Perfection through
anthropometry Define anthropometry
here's the definition of anthropometry
the scientific study of the measurements
and proportions of the human body
Perfection through that the Clause
weight is higher than that of an ally
670 G by our measurements versus 615 G
probably due to the claws larger cooler
which MSI calls the cooler boost
hyperflow Define cooler boost
hyperflow didn't find anything softwares
make or break for these devices so it's
time to move to that the inevitable
manufacturer front-end software on the
claw is called the MSI Center M and if
you're familiar with msi's recursive
acronym naming like the MSI me m a and
MPG where all the m stand for MSI and so
we have the MSI MSI performance gaming
where MSI stands for micar international
so it's actually the micar International
micar International performance gaming
then we can also assume that MSI Center
m is basically the MSI Center MSI MSI
really needs some more words that start
with M other than MSI MSI the UI is
Clumsy compared to the more mature
software from valve and Asus we ran into
problems immediately upon turning the
device on as well if you don't open the
software on boot opening the overlay for
the first time will bring up the main
window and trigger an interrupt once the
overlay is open tapping the B button
doesn't close it these are some really
basic things that you have to get right
on a handheld since it doesn't have a
normal mouse and keyboard normally we
also had some problems with the overlay
not intercepting clicks meaning that
menus behind the overlay would be
activated when in fact you are trying to
click on the interactive pop out overlay
in general the software doesn't respond
to input logically and when it does it
can be difficult to navigate and it
feels like it was retrofitted from a
desktop rather than built ground up for
a handheld device that has different
inputs the most important aspect of the
software though is the so-called user
scenario which is maybe indicative of
msi's other software problems because
the names are often nonsense or convey
little to no meaning to the user what
user scenario user mode actually does is
change the power profile these are
Extreme Performance or AKA performance
balanced super battery manual and AI
engine these profiles just set good old
Intel pl1 and pl2 values that we've
detailed in the past although they're
adjusted for this silicon we likeed that
the performance profile also offers the
option to individually customize fan
curves for each of the two fans which is
a great feature that MSI decided not to
logically apply anywhere else at all it
isn't available in any other power modes
again reinforcing a sort of half ass
approach that their developers can
probably navigate thoughtlessly but
actual users end up with an inconsistent
and unclear experience in fact even the
manual mode doesn't support fan curve
adjustment conversely manual offers the
ability to set pl1 and pl2 from 20 to 40
Watts on wall power and 20 to 35 Watts
on battery power but none of the others
offer this we'd like it if MSI unified
the software options more though we
secured an official table of the
predefined pl1 and pl2 values for each
power mode also visible through Hardware
info DC is battery power and AC is
connected to the charger and of the
predefined profiles performance changes
the most significantly based on whether
a charger is connected and it exceeds
the values that can be manually set
through the manual profile yet another
inconsistency in msis interface super
battery also disables the Clause RGB
lighting but that's a decision we agree
with if you're looking for help or
information like this it may have to
come to directly from MSI support if
they even have the answer MSI has three
resources the official guide the
official subreddit and the official
Forum the guide is moderately helpful
but the subreddit and the Forum are both
abandoned wastelands uh all of a month
after launch because nobody bought claws
apparently actually literally based on
our experience buying one as of this
writing the largest Ally subreddit has
70,000 members to the Clause 92 92 92
total it's not shorthand not
92,000
92 this of course isn't an indication of
success or quality but it's definitely
an indication of popularity even the
relatively Niche Legion go has a larger
community and that Community regularly
makes feature requests that are
sometimes impressively granted by the
software team but now we get to the
secret feature the number one guaranteed
sales generator right now it's two very
special letters strapped to a noun msi's
AI engine MSI says that it automatically
switches between profiles for three
things the power modes we just described
nimic audio and RGB lighting modes now
you might be thinking wait a minute
that's three simple options that could
be handled with a matrix and a lookup
table which would completely negate any
importance of AI and relegate it to
functionally a table
but moving on it seems like the idea is
that if you launch a game the device
will swap to appropriate Power Sound and
Lighting modes automatically we say
seems like because it isn't really clear
how or if it works or what working
properly might even mean Intel Graphics
Command Center was installed out of the
box but Intel Arc control was not even
on the review sample that MSI had
screwed around with and we decided not
to use even when updates are Del through
MSI Center M some of them just get
unceremoniously dumped into the
downloads folder this is uh expected
Behavior though for Center M for some
reason MSI has left display related
controls to Intel and Microsoft which
means that there is no battery saving
refresh rate cap available through MSI
Center M there is a bios function bios
appears to be a normal MSI laptop setup
but without any performance controls
beyond the ones accessible within the OS
it's definitely not as featur as the
goes by bios there's enough
functionality to navigate a Windows
install but that's about it that is
until you hit the secret right control
right shift left alt F2 key combo to
open up the real bios controls including
the ability to set ratios disable cores
or do anything else you'd normally do in
a desktop bios accessing the BIOS
already requires holding right bumper
and right trigger during boot so we're
not particularly happy to see that MSI
is hiding the actually useful functions
Beyond a second hidden key combo it's
not not supposed to be like an NES game
where you smash buttons on the start
screen and try to find Secrets this
should actually be obvious as for
control differences the claw comes with
hall effect joysticks out of the box
which is a plus but negated by those
bumpers we mentioned we suspect MSI is
using the exact same 7in 120 HZ variable
refresh IPS touchcreen on the claw
because even the bezels are precisely
the same size we measured them although
as a whole The Claw is approximately 0.5
CM taller and 1 cm wider we want good
competition for the Ally because the
Ally is becoming increasingly difficult
for us to recommend now arguably the Rog
Alli D1 extreme especially is still the
best choice among handhelds overall the
deck has a lot of strengths we've talked
about them at length now especially the
frame time pacing but generally speaking
the Alli z1x is extremely competitive
it's had big price drops on the Z1
non-extreme uh and all of that makes it
compelling in sort of the upper echelon
of them and in the budget class but
during our testing the Rog Ally for this
review had more problems than any other
device we worked with and that is
starting to become concerning because
it's been a trend for the Ally we had to
reset windows on the Z1 in order to get
any updates to install we already have a
defective thumb stick a rapidly
degrading battery and a broken micro SD
card slot unless we want to send it out
for warranty so let's look at the claws
Hardware all claw variants come with 16
GB of lpddr 56400 matched to the Ali and
the deol Leed and a 53w hour six cell
battery but only the top tier comes with
a 1 TB drive we generally prefer the 1
tby option so saving 50 bucks by
dropping to the 512 GB claw we think
isn't worth it disregarding the drive
size the Ultra 5 model might deserve
some consideration if it were
meaningfully discounted the CPU core
count is really the only meaningful
place you see big difference with a drop
from six PES 8 e cores and two LP e
cores with 22 threads total to 4 P cores
a e cores and two LP e cores but the GPU
component is almost the same between the
two models so with a big enough discount
the 135h could definitely become
interesting because on paper it's less
of a downgrade than the allly Z1 versus
the allly Z1 extreme or just the Z1
versus the Z1 extreme Parts in general
having a single port for charging and
for Io has proven extremely annoying on
both the deck and the Ally and we were
hugely appreciative of what Lenovo did
with the legion go which was the utterly
mindblowing revolutionary concept of
adding two USB ports and MSI proves our
own point about the USB thing MSI says
you'll need a powered Hub in order to
update BIOS they say updating bios
requires USB drive and a hub or docking
with an adapter connected MSI sells an
$80 Nest docking station with definitely
not Asus inspired p packaging but it
recommends upgrading to a 100 W charger
in order to use it one tiny feature
worth praising is the tactile bumps that
have been molded above the USB and the
micro SD card slots which we like
because it makes it easier to tell them
apart in a dark room our first set of
bench marks is for battery life and it
includes some normalized results where
we can look at either FPS normalized or
battery life sort of survivability
normalized The Claw is equipped with a
53w hour battery it's the largest we've
tested so far although it's essentially
tied with the deck Leed and the legion
go all automatic power saving features
like screen dimming were disabled for
testing for now we set a 50% screen
brightness however this is one of our
only uncontrolled variables in testing
since 50% can be different things on
different screens our future testing
includes nits normalization though so
that'll be pretty cool once we roll it
out this first chart is super
interesting we've added average FPS and
The Benchmark next to the devices and
then the battery in the bar remember
that this doesn't tell the full story of
course so we'll look at the lows and the
frame times later but it allows us to
start showing performance and battery
life at the same time since both are
critical this test uses F1 with the
frame rate cap disabled but resolution
enforced on all devices to the same we
have a chart with performance results
using the same settings coming up as
well and that'll give us a look at
efficiency this is super cool though
because as a data point we haven't seen
it discussed elsewhere too much the
Clause Asus z1x competition ran for 2.1
hours in silent at 38 FPS not much of a
performance Contender and 1.4 hours with
performance at 84 FPS average average
the Z1 performance and the claw balanced
are equals for battery life which means
that normalized for battery drain the
a1m is actually far superior in this
specific title its normalized Advantage
is around 50% here and it does have a
lot of problems but we'll talk with
those with the frame time pacing later
the heavier workload allowed the claw
power profiles to differentiate
themselves but even here there's only a
5 minute Improvement between performance
and balance they're just not that
different reducing profile the super
battery significantly extended the
claw's battery life up 35% from
performance and at nearly 2 hours but
that does come with a hit to FPS the
drop is from 84 fps to 68 between
balanced and super battery meaning that
balanced performs about 24% better for
FPS and more on that soon the ghost
power saving profile tops the chart but
at a basically unplayable frame time
consistency that makes it irrelevant the
more useful comparison is in performance
mode where it holds 109 FPS average at
.4 hours of Life The Deco LED as a chart
leader here up at 2.3 hours for 84 FPS
average normalized for FPS and this is
the really cool data the Alli z1x and
performance also held 84 FPS average so
they're the same there but at a reduced
1.4 hour battery that means the deck
OLED lasts 64% longer at the same FPS in
this very specific test and that's
pretty impressive and we can do a lot
more with this data in the future as we
expand it our next battery life test is
dead cells run at the native resolution
and vsync refresh rate for each device
this is intentional and it represents
normal use the Clause performance is
good among the high refresh devices
we've tested although there's no
specific Improvement between performance
and super battery modes the super
battery power limit is too high to show
a significant Advantage with this light
workload as compared to the AMD devices
which have stricter limits and that's
good here so Intel definitely could
improve because AMD can go lower on the
limitations and the performance and
balance results for MSI are within
variance of each other here the claw's
best time was 4.8 hours in this test
which gives it a real advantage of the
Allies Z1 X's best of 2.8 hours
obviously helped by the larger battery
because this test allows native
resolution and refresh the legion go is
disadvantaged and falls behind the Ally
however loses in a scenario closer to a
like for like and has the worst battery
life of all these devices the steamed de
OLED comes out on top by a huge margin
at 8.3 hours with its large battery and
efficient screen although it's
relatively low resolution and refresh
rate also benefited here and the same
applies for the deck LCD there's more to
it than all that though that's what the
gaming tests are for and that's what
we're getting into now so for gaming we
eliminate FPS caps we do not use any
variable refresh rate features that's
for measuring accurately and all tasks
were performed on battery power unless
otherwise listed using different
profiles the steam deck does not have
different Power profiles it's got
basically one thing it does uh and it
also does not benefit from being plugged
in while gaming so so that's how we test
these now important thing here is that
the words don't mean anything so when it
says performance that's a manufacturer
defined name for whatever their power
profile does so performance on for
example the legion go and the claw
they're not the same especially because
they're two completely different CPU and
GPU Solutions uh so you shouldn't be
looking at those likewise the actual
Power number so how AMD and Intel Define
TDP that's different uh but what we're
doing is showing you the mix of battery
and gaming to help with all of that
Resident Evil 4 was entitled frame
pacing issues that are difficult to
represent on a bar chart because of
their inconsistency and we'll look at a
frame time plot for that in a moment the
claw performance and balanced profiles
are tied for about 59 FPS average but
although the balanced in super battery
profiles appeared to have Superior lows
in reality the run-to-run variance was
so high that they end up just being sort
of unreliable in the lows altogether
they were equally stuttery in real life
you can't extract any meaning from these
lows because the singular spikes blow
out the averaging we'll look at that in
a second this instability overshadows
the fact that the claw is actually at
the top of the chart in terms of average
FPS surpassing the legion go and the
Ally z1x and actually out stripping the
deck OLED by as much as 31% from best
from the claw to worst of the deck but
none of that matters here's where it
gets really bad this is a frame time
plot we're representing frame time or
the frame to frame interval on the left
axis and then the frame counts on the
bottom in this instance the claw ran
into a seriously bad frame time Spike to
600 milliseconds and another nearing 400
milliseconds a 600 millisecond frame
time is clear as day to see and it feels
like a heavy stutter we can actually
simulate one really accurately in
postproduction so you can just see what
it feels like we'll put it on the screen
now and that is how long the pauses in
real play or matching it to the exact
600 millisecond window you're seeing in
this chart at 1080p the claw frame
pacing issues continue making it
difficult to get reliable results the
addition of a wall powered result pushes
the average FPS for the go and the allly
z1x to equal the claw but the top
results on the chart all level out
around 43 FPS the more stable pacing of
the non-claw handhelds make for a better
experience here regardless of the
overall averages highlighted by the 4
FPS balance to 0.1% low result which is
terrible and that is a particular
particularly nasty frame time Spike once
again maybe a different game will help
so cyber Punk we set each upscaling
method to an equivalent percent
upscaling from Source resolution that's
66% of the width and 66% of the height
in Intel AMD and Nvidia terminology
here's the chart cyberpunk 2077 was one
of the worst performing games we ran on
the claw relative to the rest of the
chart we saw consistent hitching that
persisted even when we exited the test
area unfortunately the frame time
inconsistency down at 3 FPS yes with
0.1% lows made the game unplayable in a
way that the overall 30 FPS average
doesn't reflect now we're showing this
up front we actually have an example on
the screen because this is what you can
expect from the claw some games will run
terribly or not at all the z1x handhelds
top the chart here led by the Ally Z1
X's 25 watt turbo mode at 59 FPS average
with the steam deck OLED demonstrating
its typically stable frame times and its
primary advantage which is frame time
pacing remember that for asus's turbo
mode will drastically shorten battery
life and in this instance you can expect
a sub 1H hour battery the more balanced
performance mode would put it at 41 FPS
average with a better battery time the
low power modes for the two allly
handhelds and the go land at the bottom
of the chart by a lawn shot these modes
aren't suitable for anything beyond 2D
gaming meanwhile the claw super battery
mode isn't much worse than its
performance or balanced modes if
anything MSI could cut the power further
here if the Intel part supported it but
super battery is the lowest power level
accessible through the UI matching the
minimum assured power for the 155h on
Arc not again not that Arc that's a
different one the Claus performance and
balanced modes are tied at about 30 FPS
average with the 5 wat power limit
increase not enough to make any kind of
difference here the Z1 non-extreme is
about half the price we paid for the
claw and its performance is roughly
equal to the claw's best result which is
embarrassing for msi's double the price
solution even more more embarrassing is
that the Ally the Z1 the cheap one non
extreme is blowing out the claw for
frame time pacing and that matters more
than just the average 1080p we drop the
low power profiles and ADD test with
wall power the MSI claw positioning
Remains the Same the bump to pl1 and pl2
from connecting the charger is relevant
to its performance in this test and the
average remains 27 FPS with the worst
lows on the entire chart they are
consistently inconsistent making for a
consistently bad experience this is in
contrast to devices like the legion go
and especially the Alli z1x both of
which gain some additional performance
when plugged in the deck doesn't benefit
an FPS from being plugged in everyone
2023 is up now these pair with our
thermal and battery test the claw is
tied here in average FPS with the deck
OLED and the Alli Z1 X's performance 15
wat power profile the deck goed Remains
the most consistent for frametime pacing
although the super battery a1m claw
result is more consistent than the
flanking Z1 entries the two z1x powered
handhelds pull significantly ahead with
their highest power profiles applied at
118 FP s and 109 FPS for the results
while neither the deck OLED nor the claw
have any additional Headroom Red Dead
Redemption 2 Vulcan ran well on the claw
with lows that compare favorably to the
rest of the chart the claw's best case
62 FPS average is 7% ahead of the Ally
Z1 X's performance 15 wat profile
although the Ally z1x is battery
draining turbo profile tops the chart at
66 at 1080p the z1x power devices hit a
clear limit around 43 FPS connecting the
claw to wall power resulted in actually
a lower average of 38 which is a pattern
we validated across multiple titles and
it has to do with thermal throttling
more on that soon balers Gate 3 reliably
produces low 1% .1% numbers but the claw
has worse frame pacing than the rest of
the entries on this chart the Z1
nonextreme does particularly well here
and on any given day it's $400 cheaper
than the claw in dlight 2 the claw's
best of 49 FPS is behind the Ally z1x is
best of 56 with its turbo profile and
within variance of the Legion goes best
of 50 FPS super battery reduced the
average frame rate with 24% improvement
from Super battery to balanced at 1080p
the z1x and 155h devices begin to level
off the claw connected to wall power
with the performance profile did worse
than it did on battery power which again
is something we've seen repeatedly now
in other games now for charging testing
our most basic charging test is done
with each device fully powered off and
dead enough to shut itself down this
testing's done with the included charger
because we consider the charger to be
part of the product so we measured Its
Behavior in combination with the device
the claw started off pulling the full 65
w capacity of its wall charger just like
the legion go although the go went a
couple Watts beyond the rating
afterwards the claw settled into lower
power threshold before finishing
completely at 76 minutes charge that's
the fastest charge time among the
devices shown on this chart which is
impressive given that it also has the
largest battery here's a rough chart to
illustrate that point generated with
some log data that we already had on
hand this chart is truncated before the
devices reach 100% charge but the point
here is that the claw follows a steeper
curve than the other devices shown by
the hump in this line storing more
energy quicker the claw has the fastest
charging rate among devices we've tested
but whether it can make efficient use of
that energy is a separate matter here's
the thermal situation in a full torture
workload where we have the device
charging while gaming in its maximum
power profile the claw produces these
numbers because it's charging the
charger I see is heating up the system
in areas that aren't directly contacted
by the cold plate and that's alongside
the battery Heat and the S so heat being
generated there's a lot of heat in this
box right now and anywhere rece you
bound such as initial loading of the
assets this is seen in the first few
minutes the temperature climbs to 101°
on the hottest core of Any Given row of
data that could indicate bad contact
distribution of the cooler but it could
equally be indicative of hotspots within
the CPU such as on a priority core you
also see this Spike happen anytime we're
in a loading screen with with the GPU
load which is when we're running laps in
F1 in this test the temperature stays
generally around 75° for the cores and
86 for the hottest of the cores any
shift to CPU only load like the loading
screen that happens around 700 seconds
1300 seconds 1700 seconds and 2400
seconds spikes us up to 101° it's
technically 1° over this chart bound
we'll overlay a layer for the frequency
these spikes always happen just after
the CB frequency spikes to around 3900
MHz as with Intel's desktop CPUs
insufficient cooling means the solution
can't tame the huge push for frequency
the good news is that it wasn't
throttling the CPU during the GPU load
in this game the bad news is that it was
throttling sometimes and it's not as
controlled as it should be now our
conclusion for this is an interesting
one it's kind of fun for me because we
normally do the objective analysis for
the conclusion and some subjective
opinions that are formed in the lab here
but in this instance because I was
already flying during the review cycle I
used the not this version but the Taiwan
one we bought on the plane and got to
use it in a sort of Real Environment
where it's intended to be used and that
gives some unique perspective and so
we'll approach that side first so these
are my opinions on it as a handheld in
general in the cramped and torturous
environment of a 14-hour flight that's
10 hours into a 24-hour Journey you
really sto caring about the specifics of
frame rate a lot What mattered to me
were only two things
that it was playable and that meant 20
FPS in non-precision games was fine as
long as it was consistent that's the key
part and not stuttery and that added
good battery life if the device died in
an hour it wouldn't be worth the carry
on luggage space without using it in a
controlled way I was switching between
brightness power profiles purely based
on how I felt as an end user not how I
felt as a tester I ended up with about
an hour and 45 minutes of play time in
Brew Barons which is an awesome game but
not a lot of time this is where we get
to the interesting Insight side of
things from being in that environment
purely subjectively I could not possibly
have cared any less about an extra 5 FPS
in that environment all I cared about
was this thing does its job well enough
to distract me from being on this plane
for 14 hours and it needs to live long
enough to take away as much of that uh
experience as possible so that's what I
cared about now that boils down really
to a couple things additionally which is
value and battery and on the value side
it's much worse value than competing
devices it is
$800 uh and the battery life is also not
the best so it's in two losing positions
you could use the inseat charger the
charger is low enough wattage that most
planes will support it if their in seat
charger is working if your neighbor is
not using it if you're okay with being
that guy who trips everyone who needs to
get out of the row that you're in uh but
the battery still matters the most
additional thoughts the overlay was at
times annoying I did have occasional
crashes as a result of a mix The Arc
drivers and uh the super battery power
State and if I were to take a device not
for review as in I personally get to
choose what I want to not work on the
plane then I would not choose this
device I'd bring either the Ally or uh
the deck instead now to the objective
side in the game test we ran the claw
could perform up to the level of an Ali
Z1 extreme but with an identical screen
spec the same memory capacity more
storage and potentially more battery
life that makes the claw sound better
but it's not the claw's one-word summary
is inconsistent it also doesn't bode
well for the claw that its bottom tier
power profile isn't strongly
differentiated from its highest in
comparison to the other devices if
you're trying to maximize battery life
that's as low as the slider goes the
existence of the claw a mystery we
suspect there may be some Intel
marketing Development Fund involved or
something because otherwise why would
you do this uh even the legion go is
cheaper and the go has a higher
resolution it has a higher refresh rate
faster memory it supports 2242 ssds it
has detachable controllers whether you
view them as a gimmick or not and we're
happy to see some silicon variety with
the claw and
Intel but you don't buy because of
variety you buy because value and good
and it's clear why manufacturers have
stuck with the safe choice of a Z1
variant or a 7840 u in most cases as for
what we would recommend instead the alz1
extreme has the highest performance per
dollar with some reliability issues
we've talked about those at length The
Deco Leed has a good balance of battery
life screen quality and price combined
with stable frame time and the allly Z1
non-extreme has become a competitive
budget Choice with huge discounts as low
as $300 to $400 or so if the top tier
claw drops to price parody with a top
tier allies Z1 extreme we'll re-evaluate
the conclusion as simply as possible is
this there's no reason to settle for
good enough when better is cheaper and
that's it for this review thanks for
watching subscribe for more as always we
have more handhelds we're working on
we're moving into some core component
reviews for PC parts as well and uh to
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