- MSI’s new Claw 8 AI+ has limited availability with only some customers taking orders
- The release date was set for January 15 in the US and February 11 in the UK
- It is currently only available at Currys in the UK
At CES 2025, a number of upcoming handheld gaming PCs were revealed, including Lenovo’s Legion Go 2 prototype. Although the Nintendo Switch 2’s announcement came shortly after the tech event, it’s hard to believe it stands a chance against the new slate of gaming handhelds, especially MSI’s Claw 8 AI+ – at least if you can find one in your region.
As reported by VideoCardz, the MSI Claw 8 AI+ suffers from limited availability at launch, with only a few users in the US getting their hands on the device despite its original January 15th launch date from MSI.
The same problem seems to apply to users in the UK. The release date was set for February 11, but at the time of writing there is only one pre-order listing of the Claw 8 AI+ – at Currys, priced at £899. The fact that it’s only available on one retailer site in the UK and only a small number of users in the US have managed to get their hands on it certainly suggests availability issues.
The Claw 8 AI+ uses Intel’s Lunar Lake Ultra 7 258V processor for improved gaming performance over the previous Claw A1M model thanks to the Intel Arc 140V integrated GPU. Based on multiple previews, including my colleague John Loeffler’s hands-on coverage , MSI’s latest model looks to outperform the Asus ROG Ally X and potentially even the Legion Go 2 (powered by AMD’s new Z2 Extreme APU).
While we’re still awaiting official Nintendo Switch 2 specs, the rumored internals are underwhelming to say the least: it’s reportedly set to use the Cortex-A78AE processor (reportedly using Nvidia’s DLSS upscaling technology) and just 8GB of RAM. It doesn’t compare well to the AMD Z1 Extreme with 16GB of RAM used in the original ROG Ally.
Will limited availability and price affect MSI Claw 8 AI+’s success?
While we’re only a month into 2025, we’ll see handheld gaming PC additions from both MSI and Lenovo with the Claw 8 AI+ and the upcoming Legion Go S, which we also demoed at CES. Given the price of the Claw 8 ($899 / £899 / around AU$1,400), combined with its limited availability, it may lose out to other handhelds already available, despite appearing to be the strongest performer on the paper.
When it comes to handheld gaming PCs, affordability is what matters most. I’m sure the Core Ultra 7 258V will prove incredible for the Claw 8 AI+ along with the hefty 80Whr battery, but its rather steep price might end up being a dealbreaker (especially if this limited availability continues).
I’ve said it before with handheld PCs – just look at Acer’s Nitro Blaze 11, priced at $1,099 (around £1,000 / AU$1,740), which could well be its downfall. The same could apply here, although it’s slightly cheaper than Acer’s monster handheld. At these prices, if you don’t already own a desktop gaming PC, it doesn’t make much sense to go for a handheld. However, I hope its Claw 7 AI+ counterpart could be a compromise, using the same processor but with a 54.5 WH battery and 7-inch screen instead, at $799 / around £700 / around AU$1,245.
