MSI Claw A8 breaks cover in Europe with a price tag just below €1,000

With an asking price just shy of four figures, MSI Claw A8 won't be cheap but its specifications do look to push handheld performance forward in an awesome way.

Anticipation for Ryzen Z2 Extreme handhelds like Claw A8 continues to mount, and it seems like their launch is fast approaching. Retail listings for MSI’s system have just appeared across European retailers, providing some indication as to how much the device will cost once it makes a formal debut.

For those that need bringing up to speed, Claw A8 will sit alongside Claw 8 AI+ rather than succeed it. This means MSI will be the only manufacturer on the market to offer handhelds with AMD Ryzen and Intel Core Ultra innards, with all others opting solely for the former. On that note, Claw A8 will see competition from ROG Ally 2, Legion Go 2, and more using the same Ryzen Z2 Extreme APU.

CPUAMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme
OSWindows 11 Home
Display8in (1920×1200), 120Hz, VRR, Touchscreen
Memory24GB LPDDR5x-8000
ControlEffect analog sticks and triggers
SecurityFingerprint
CommunicationWi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4
Audio Jack3.5mm combo jack
Audio2x 2W speakers
AC Adapter65W
Battery80Wh
I/O Ports2x USB4 / Thunderbolt 4 compatible
1x Micro SD Card Reader
Storage1x M.2 2280 PCIe Gen 4 slot
HapticsYes
Dimension (WxDxH)299.5 x 126.2 x 24.0mm
Weight765g

For the luxury of all the specifications above, product pages for Claw A8 suggest you’ll need to part with around €980. While far more expensive than Steam Deck and older handhelds, this is about what we should expect for systems running Ryzen Z2 Extreme. That said, some sightings of Xbox ROG Ally X place the device at a more-affordable €899. Nothing’s set in stone until MSI gives the word.

It’s unclear how Claw A8 will fare against Claw 8 AI+, but we do know the system as well as others running Ryzen Z2 Extreme should provide a notable performance uplift over existing Ryzen Z1 Extreme handhelds. For starters, the APU will pack three Zen 5 and five Zen 5c cores, with respective maximum boost clocks of 5GHz and 3.3GHz. It’ll have 16 RDNA 3.5 compute units (CUs) under its belt too.

MSI Claw A8 BZ2EM rear.

Discussing Claw A8 specifically, MSI plans to offer the handheld in two colours: white and green. Each version houses an 8in 1920×1200 display with a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz. A generous 80Whr battery should provide ample uptime for gaming, with charging taken care of via one of the two Thunderbolt 4 ports up top which also support DP Alt mode.

You’ll be able to expand Claw A8 storage via a microSD card slot, but you can also swap out the internal M.2 2280 SSD with something larger and faster if you wish. Of course, the system will also support WiFi7 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, making it cutting-edge in terms of wireless connectivity.

MSI Claw A8 BZ2EM side.

For those after the very best handheld gaming experience, Claw A8 appears to be shaping up nicely providing you can stomach its asking price. However, the arrival of the system should hopefully drive down the prices of older models too, making for a healthy market ripe with choice.

We don’t yet know when MSI plans to launch Claw A8 exactly. Once the company pushes the device out into the wild, though, you can expect coverage from the team in due course.

Fahd Temsamani
Fahd Temsamani
Senior Writer at Club386, his love for computers began with an IBM running MS-DOS, and he’s been pushing the limits of technology ever since. Known for his overclocking prowess, Fahd once unlocked an extra 1.1GHz from a humble Pentium E5300 - a feat that cemented his reputation as a master tinkerer. Fluent in English, Arabic, and French, his motto when building a new rig is ‘il ne faut rien laisser au hasard.’
SourceSmarty

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