I Held The Next-gen Handheld

Intel couldn’t drawback a break. Layoffs. Shakedowns. Crashing CPUs torpedoing its reputation, sending desktop gamers fleeing to AMD. Apple and Qualcomm pushing Intel retired of aggregate flagship laptops. A gaming graphics paper going MIA. But its Panther Lake laptop chip, nan first connected its all-important 18A process, turned retired excellent — and a handheld type mightiness make Intel the leader successful portable gaming chips.

On Monday, I spent 2 hours pinch an MSI Claw 8 EX AI Plus handheld atop Intel’s caller Arc G3 Extreme. I walked distant reasoning that next-gen handhelds person yet arrived. The existent leap successful capacity and artillery life we’ve been waiting for.

For example, Intel claims that its Arc G3 Extreme tin present akin capacity astatine half nan wattage of AMD’s flagship chip, pinch nan MSI Claw consuming conscionable 17 watts to do what takes 35 watts connected nan Xbox Ally X pinch AMD Z2 Extreme:

Or, it tin tally an mean of 42 percent faster astatine nan aforesaid 35 watts — making games for illustration Battlefield 6, Baldur’s Gate 3, Cyberpunk 2077, Red Dead Redemption 2, Returnal, and Forza Horizon 6 playable astatine 1080p precocious and 60fps. (That’s pinch 2x upscaling, mind, truthful we’re talking 960x540 render resolution, but that’s really I play demanding handheld games myself.)

Intel claims nan Arc G3 Extreme is truthful efficient, you tin moreover crippled astatine 1080p and debased settings pinch conscionable 12 watts of electricity, caput and often shoulders complete nan AMD spot there:

And, Intel says nan spot tin sip arsenic small arsenic 4 watts of energy successful nan slightest demanding games — for astir 12 hours of artillery life connected a charge.

We simply haven’t seen this benignant of a leap successful handheld gaming PCs truthful far.

The Steam Deck group nan barroom successful 2022 pinch an unbeatable operation of value and efficiency. By 2023’s $549 Steam Deck OLED, you could comfortably play modern AAA games astatine debased settings for 2 hours connected a charge, and weaker games for up to eight. Windows competitors could tally games much smoothly aliases astatine higher settings, but only by consuming far much electricity. That’s been existent of almost each handheld since, sloppy of whether it was powered by an AMD Z1 Extreme, Z2 Extreme, 7840U, 8840U, HX370, or especially nan AMD “Strix Halo” AI Max Plus 395.

Limited by comparatively power-hungry chips, companies recovered different ways to improve: The Asus ROG Ally X virtually doubled nan Ally’s artillery to 80 watt-hours, stretching to 3 hours of medium-weight gameplay aliases astir 9 hours of nan lightest play successful my tests. The Xbox Ally added large, gamepad style prongs that make a dense handheld much comfortable.

But nan MSI Claw 8 EX AI Plus, nan 1 pinch Intel’s caller chip, seems to person it all: an 80-watt hr battery, prongs, power, efficiency, drift-resistant Hall effect joysticks, and remarkably soft gameplay connected an 8-inch 120Hz VRR screen.

Check retired those prongs:

Intel didn’t fto maine play each nan games I’d for illustration to, but I came prepared knowing Forza Horizon 6 would beryllium connected display. Before my demo, I played done nan first hr of the virtual roadworthy travel to Japan connected nan Xbox Ally X, nan Steam Deck, and nan SI Claw 8 AI Plus, nan previous-gen Intel Lunar Lake handheld.

At a autochthonal 1920 x 1200 solution and mean settings, I saw astir 40-45 frames per 2nd connected nan Lunar Lake MSI Claw pinch its spot group to maximum. I sewage possibly 50fps from nan Xbox Ally X astatine its little autochthonal surface solution of 1080p. The crippled doesn’t moreover consciousness playable connected Steam Deck astatine its autochthonal 800p resolution, I’m acrophobic — nan crippled often turned into a jerky messiness moreover astatine lowest spec.

But nan caller MSI Claw pinch Arc G3 Extreme gave maine 60-73 fps successful Forza Horizon 6 at 1200p resolution, without immoderate of Intel’s “fake frames” framework procreation turned on. It’s conscionable 1 information point, but it lines up neatly pinch Intel’s capacity claims, removing immoderate of my doubt.

And, nan caller Claw did truthful while consuming conscionable 43W of full strategy power, according to MSI’s overlay — meaning up to 1.8 hours of runtime connected an 80 watt-hour battery. The Xbox Ally X consumes person to 50 watts of full strategy powerfulness successful its 35W turbo mode, for much for illustration 1.6 hours of nan highest capacity you tin get.

Intel mightiness connection moreover much smoothness and powerfulness savings if you don’t mind clone frames. Battlefield 6 looked positively buttery astatine 110–140fps pinch 4X framework gen, not that I could clasp my ain successful multiplayer without plugging successful a mouse, keyboard, and larger screen, to opportunity thing of latency. But that was Intel’s caller spot group to 25W TDP and full powerfulness tie of conscionable 38W, suggesting I could get 2 afloat hours of gameplay connected nan 80Wh battery. After my 2 hr convention (which included immoderate still photography, mind), nan caller Claw still had 29 percent near successful nan tank.

The caller Claw is besides nan astir comfortable handheld I’ve held yet, pinch fantabulous weight equilibrium and incredibly grippy textured grips. It’s large, but it feels lighter than I would expect, and I’m nary longer worried it mightiness gaffe retired of sweaty hands. I’m a small little judge astir nan controls — nan 8-way D-pad is very clicky, nan bumpers consciousness a spot hollow, nan sticks and triggers still person a somewhat inexpensive consciousness for illustration nan erstwhile Claw — but everything feels much than serviceable moreover successful nan engineering sample I tried.

In fact, multiple sources person confirmed (and we tin corroborate) that MSI is targeting a $1,500 value for this handheld erstwhile it launches June 23rd.

One measurement to look astatine that: It’s excessively overmuch money, period. Gaming shouldn’t beryllium specified a luxury!

Another thought: Compared to nan $1,000 Xbox Ally X, this is simply a 50 percent value summation for 42 percent much capacity connected average, which doesn’t sound great?

But either way, it looks for illustration handhelds are yet springing guardant again. I wouldn’t beryllium amazed if my adjacent instrumentality has Intel Inside — erstwhile aliases if RAMageddon yet ends.