After two weeks with the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+, I'm convinced it's the first real rival to the ROG Xbox Ally X

Published Aug 15, 2026, 6:00 PM EDT Patrick O'Rourke is XDA's News Editor and Entertainment Segment Lead. Previously, he was Pocket-lint's Editor-in-Chief, the Editor-in-Chief of Canadian tech publication MobileSyrup, and earlier in his career, he worked as the technology editor at the Financial Post and Postmedia. He's based in Toronto. Over the past 15 years, he's written thousands of articles. Patrick has also interviewed dozens of tech industry executives and covered GDC, E3, Gamescom, WWDC, Apple keynotes, Samsung Unpacked events and more. Patrick has a BA in journalism from Toronto Metropolitan University. Over the past several years, I've been pretty loyal to Asus' ROG Ally X series of handhelds, and with good reason. Compared to competing Windows 11 portables like Lenovo's Legion Go and other high-end handhelds from companies like Ayaneo and OneXPlayer, Asus' devices have always just felt more polished and reliable, particularly the ROG Xbox Ally X. But after spending the last two weeks with MSI's Claw 8 EX AI+, I finally feel like the ROG Xbox Ally X has real competition in the Windows 11 handheld space. That said, MSI's latest handheld has a few serious flaws, including its very high price, somewhat odd design, and its lackluster software experience. Still, MSI has something special on its hands, mostly thanks to Intel's powerful new Arc G3 Extreme chip. Above everything, Intel's Arc G3 Extreme is the main draw Intel's chip is notably more powerful than AMD's Ryzen Z2 Extreme The first thing to note is that Intel's lofty claims surrounding its Arc G3 Extreme chip are very real. The MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ features a handheld-specific Panther Lake processor with Intel's 12-core Xe3-based architecture that prioritizes graphics performance. Intel says the chip offers a 44% higher frame rate in select games compared to AMD's Ryzen Z2 Extreme in the ROG Ally X. Despite my skepticism, as far as I've been able to tell, this seems very accurate, especially when each handheld's respective AI upscaling technology is enabled. For example, with Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, the game I spent most of my time playing on the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ so far, I was able to get between 50-65fps with AI Engine (the TDP is at roughly 25W when this mode is running) handling the TDP/powerlimit, and in-game graphics set to a mix of Medium, High, and Low. Switching to manual, with PL1 set to 35 and PL2 set to 45, made the frame rate a bit more consistent, but the louder fans and battery life hit just weren't worth the trade-off. My experience was similar with titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and Forza Horizon 6, with both games offering a roughly 20-30fps frame rate boost on the Claw 8 EX AI+, depending on the in-game graphics settings. In comparison, the ROG Xbox Ally X averaged around 30-35fps in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag Resynced, climbing to roughly 40fps when plugged in and running in its 35W Turbo mode. In the case of the MSI Claw 8 EX AI, I had XeSS 3 enabled, and with the ROG Xbox Ally X, I played with FSR on. As far as the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ is concerned, I didn't really experience major battery-life gains from the more power-efficient Arc G3 Extreme chip. I maybe got roughly 15-20 minutes more from the MSI Claw 8 EX AI compared to the ROG Xbox Ally X, but not much more than that. Of course, this all comes down to the power settings I had running on the handhelds and what games I played, so your experience might be different. If you're looking for more formal MSI's Claw 8 EX AI+ benchmarks, check out XDA contributor Joe Rice-Jones detailed analysis of the Arc G3 Extreme. MSI's Claw 8 EX AI+ is almost as comfortable to hold as the ROG Xbox Ally X What's up with that weird-looking display chin, though? One of my favorite things about the Xbox Ally X is how comfortable it is to use for long gaming sessions, thanks to its Xbox controller-like arms and solid-feeling buttons and triggers. Of course, it's far from perfect. I still think the arms are a bit too thick, and they're a bit too smooth for my taste (I use dbrand's excellent Killswitch case to add grip to the handheld). While the MSI Claw EX AI+ has its own issues, including its sizable 8-inch display with a weird chin that extends beyond its shell, its concave arms are grippy, and the buttons are snappy and responsive. Even the triggers and bumpers feel more solid than I expected. It's just a really comfortable Windows 11 handheld and a notable step above other MSI Claws I've used in the past. I still prefer the feel of the ROG Xbox Ally X's overall design and ergonomics, but the MSI Claw EX AI+ comes really close to matching Asus' handheld. As a side note, the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+'s 8-inch display looks great compared to the ROG Xbox Ally X's 7-inch screen and its sizable bezels. I didn't think that just one inch would make that much of a difference, but I should have known better given how much I like the Switch 2's large 7.9-inch screen compared to the Xbox Ally X's. It is very odd how it just extends beyond the handheld's shell, though. It's almost like MSI didn't want to redesign the entire handheld, so it just extended the body an inch. In comparison, the Xbox Ally X's display looks small and dated. It seems like Asus feels the same way, because the upcoming ROG Ally Xbox X20 mid-cycle upgrade features a larger 7.4-inch OLED screen. It'll be really interesting to see how much the OLED screen technology affects the battery life of Asus' upcoming handheld. The MSI Claw 8 EX AI+'s expensive price tag is its biggest issue It also overall doesn't feel as polished as the ROG Xbox Ally X The MSI Claw 8 EX AI+'s biggest issue is that it costs an astounding $1,800, with the RAMpocalypse claiming yet another victim. On the other hand, the ROG Xbox Ally X is still priced at $1,000. How long will that last as the cost of pretty much every tech device skyrockets? We don't know, but for now, that $800 price difference is absolutely massive, and as much as I like the Claw 8 EX AI+, I don't think its performance gains are worth the extremely premium cost. Adding to this, the Claw 8 EX AI+'s overall experience isn't as polished as the ROG Xbox Ally X's — and that speaks volumes because Asus' handheld is already pretty glitchy (all Windows 11 handhelds are still a bit of a mess, to be fair). MSI's Center M overlay is buggy and often fails to open or causes games to crash. I've also experienced issues switching between Xbox Mode and Windows Desktop, with some games crashing or closing entirely. In some cases, I couldn't get the handheld to wake from sleep mode, which forced me to restart it. I have no doubt that at least some of these issues will be ironed out in upcoming updates, but I had hoped that MSI had learned from the Xbox Ally X's less-than-stellar early software experience, especially now that the company has released several Claw devices. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case. MSI's latest handheld feels next-generation, but the price and software hold it back I've enjoyed my time with the horribly named MSI Claw 8 EX AI+. It really does feel like the first truly next-generation Windows 11 handheld experience thanks to Intel's Arc G3 — any way you look at it, the performance gains are undeniably impressive, and I'm excited to see more handhelds drop that feature the chip. However, somewhat strange design decisions, glitchy software, and a painfully high price hold it back from being the go-to Windows 11 handheld I'd recommend to friends and family. Hopefully, that changes in the future and MSI can offer a more polished experience, but until then, the ROG Xbox Ally X remains a better all-around package, especially when you consider its price. Still, I'm glad another Windows 11 handheld is finally challenging the ROG Xbox Ally X's crown. ROG Xbox Ally X Dimensions 290.8x121.5x50.7mm Weight 715g Chipset AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme Processor 8c/16T Zen 5 up to 5 GHz boost – RDNA 3.5 16CU up to 2.9Ghz boost - up to 50 TOPS NPU RAM 24GB LPDDR5X-8000 MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ CG3EM Dimensions 296 x 130 x 25-48mm Weight 785 g Chipset Intel Arc G3 Extreme RAM 32GB LPDDR5x