The handheld PC gaming market is booming, giving players more choice than ever – but it’s also making it harder for new devices to stand out in a crowded market. With so many devices competing for attention, it takes something special to stand out.
The MSI Claw A1M has a secret weapon.
Before we get started, this isn’t a review. This is a high-level overview of the MSI Claw A1M after spending a week with it. We won’t be getting into any performance benchmarks or anything like that. These are just first impressions of the device, but hopefully, you’ll get a good idea of what MSI’s handheld has to offer.
A form factor that actually feels comfortable to hold
Unboxing the MSI Claw A1M, you’ll notice one thing immediately: the device is surprisingly compact. It’s hard to put into words, but the weight of the device is staggeringly light, considering all of the components it houses. It feels comfortable in the hand, with all of your fingers naturally falling on the triggers and buttons without stretching. One problem I’ve had with other handhelds has been hand cramping. Whether it’s caused by thumbsticks that fall too close to the edge of the device or back paddles that are tough to press because of their flat design, I just haven’t found using many handhelds comfortable. But the Claw’s name wasn’t just for marketing purposes. The device was clearly designed to be held for hours at a time, with the sharp angles giving a solid grip.
You can tell right away that it’s an MSI device. It borrows a lot of design cues from its laptops, with clean lines and vents galore. Seriously, the Claw A1M is not messing around when it comes to cooling. Not only does the device feature small vents on the front and top, the entire back of the handheld is mostly intake vents. Along with two heat pipes, the vents and fans do an excellent job of keeping the device cool even under a heavy load. The company calls this CoolerBoost HyperFlow, and while I can’t speak to whether the flow of the air is hyper, I can tell you that it’s both the coolest and quietest handheld that I’ve used to date.
I love gaming before turning in for the night, but that can be tough if the device I’m using clicks so loudly that it wakes up the entire neighbourhood. Thankfully, the Claw’s buttons are both tactically and sonically satisfying without requiring everyone around you to wear headphones. A special mention should go to the back paddles for having the perfect level of pressure and feedback. Seriously, give the video preview we produced a watch to get a listen to these.
And if you’re wondering why I haven’t touched upon the thumbsticks or triggers yet, arguably the most important part of any gamepad, that’s because they deserve their own section of this preview. For now, I’ll just say that they both feel fantastic. They have just the right amount of resistance. But if you’re really curious, skip to the section “The secret weapon” to find out why I’m such a fan –and why the Claw A1M will probably outlive other handhelds because of those two components.
A Windows handheld without the compromise
A solid design is great, but if the games on the device don’t play well, it will all be for naught. It’s a good thing, then, that the Claw A1M is packed with power.
Running Windows with Intel Arc graphics and an Intel Core Ultra Processor, the Claw A1M is packing some serious handheld heat. Add on PCIe Gen4x4 M.2 SSD storage and 16GB LPDDR5 memory and you’ve got a device that can power almost any game without serious compromises.
And that’s always the thing with handhelds – compromise. You’re always trading something for performance. Battery life, weight, resolution, form factor, operating system, or any number of other factors. MSI’s handheld may not be perfect, but it’s the most complete portable gaming PC that I’ve used so far.
This is helped by the use of the Intel Arc graphics card. As a recent disruptor to the race in the graphics card space between NVIDIA and AMD, Intel has already made big strides in performance, as many tech sites have reported. You’ll likely see more companies adopting their cards in the future, so it’s nice to see MSI going all in with their handheld – and being the first portable PC to do so.
It plays Helldivers 2
During my time with the Claw A1M, I played a rotation of games to put the device through its paces. Some are games that I test on every device to really push the unit to its limits, while others I played simply because I can’t put them down. From Baldur’s Gate 3 to Helldivers 2, I spent hours online and offline seeing how the Claw A1M would fare under a full load, and to my pleasant surprise, it not only delivered solid performance, the battery lasted longer than I was expecting by a wide margin.
It also can’t go without saying how nice it is to be able to access all of my libraries in one place. Not being limited to Steam means that I can play all of those games that I’ve been picking up from Epic Games over the years. Or better yet, the recent releases on Game Pass can be downloaded directly to the Claw instead of needing to play them over the cloud as you do with Linux-based handhelds. Persona 3 Reload is a perfect handheld game, especially when you need a shorter session or to wind down after a long day, but requiring a connection to play takes away the best aspect of a handheld—being able to take it on the go.
And the games look great on the Claw A1M’s 7-inch screen. The IPS panel delivers 120Hz performance with a 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution to give a sharp 16:10 image. Being able to run reflex-driven games at 120 frames per second on a handheld with a built-in gamepad is brilliant. If you’re running games with touchscreen inputs, the Claw has you covered there too.
The secret weapon
When MSI sent us the Claw A1M, they highlighted some of the key features, but one area that I feel like they didn’t talk about nearly enough was one of its best features – the Hall Effect triggers and thumbsticks.
Unlike traditional thumbsticks and switches that use physical contact to register inputs, Hall Effect thumbsticks feature magnets. So not only will they last much longer because the friction won’t wear them down over time, they also won’t fall victim to the stick drift that has plagued gamepads of late. And this isn’t to say that MSI is the first company to use Hall Effect sticks, but it is the first to include them as the default option without charging a premium and make them feel great.
The thumbsticks and triggers on the MSI Claw A1M surpass anything else I’ve used on a handheld. The sticks feel smooth without being weightless. Some of the Hall Effect sticks I’ve used in the past have had no resistance, making it difficult to make nuanced moves for racing games and shooters. But the Claw A1M’s sticks don’t fall to the side at your touch, instead gliding smoothly where you want them to go. And the triggers have a nice analogue feel to them that rivals full-sized gamepads.
The Claw effect
The MSI Claw A1M is a premium PC gaming handheld that delivers where it counts. I’ve only had a week with the device so far, and these are just my first impressions with a device provided by MSI, but I found myself reaching for the Claw over my other handhelds for a number of reasons.
First off, the Claw A1M was just more comfortable to hold than my other handhelds. The sharper grip feels great, even after a few hours. And the lighter weight of the device means that you won’t be hating yourself at work the next day after a multi-hour Baldur’s Gate session.
But just as important, the user experience was simple and clean. If you’ve ever used MSI’s laptops, you’ll be immediately familiar with how the Claw A1M operates. Swapping processor settings and graphics on the fly is a breeze, and they can save you a significant amount of battery life.
And most importantly, the games run well and feel great in the hand. The Claw A1M understands how important ergonomics are for gaming and that sacrificing performance for form factor isn’t the best trade-off either. No, you won’t be running every game at the highest settings for hours at a time, but this is as seamless a transition to the handheld experience as I’ve had.
You can buy the MSI Claw A1M at Best Buy Canada and the official MSI site.
This article is sponsored by MSI.
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