{"id":1368,"date":"2026-06-03T04:42:57","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T04:42:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=1368"},"modified":"2026-06-03T04:42:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T04:42:57","slug":"intel-arc-g3-extreme-msi-claw-next-gen-handheld-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=1368","title":{"rendered":"I held the next-gen handheld"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Intel couldn\u2019t catch a break. Layoffs<\/a>. Shakedowns<\/a>. Crashing CPUs<\/a> torpedoing its reputation, sending desktop gamers fleeing to AMD. Apple and Qualcomm pushing Intel out of multiple flagship laptops. A gaming graphics card going MIA<\/a>. But its Panther Lake laptop chip, the first on its all-important 18A process, turned out excellent<\/a> \u2014 and a handheld version might make Intel the<\/em> leader in portable gaming chips.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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On Monday, I spent two hours with an MSI Claw 8 EX AI Plus<\/a> handheld atop Intel\u2019s new Arc G3 Extreme<\/a>. I walked away thinking that next-gen handhelds have finally arrived. The true leap in performance and battery life we\u2019ve been waiting for, but at a high price.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Gallery: Check out my photos of the MSI Claw 8 EX AI Plus and comparisons to the previous version.<\/em><\/figcaption>Photos by Sean Hollister \/ The Verge<\/cite><\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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For example, Intel claims that its Arc G3 Extreme can deliver similar performance at half<\/em> the wattage of AMD\u2019s flagship chip, with the MSI Claw consuming just 17 watts to do what takes 35 watts on the Xbox Ally X with AMD Z2 Extreme:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Image: Intel<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Or, it can run an average of 42 percent faster at the same 35 watts \u2014 <\/em>making games like Battlefield 6<\/em>, Baldur\u2019s Gate 3<\/em>, Cyberpunk 2077<\/em>, Red Dead Redemption 2<\/em>, Returnal<\/em>, and Forza Horizon 6<\/em> playable at 1080p high and 60fps. (That\u2019s with 2x upscaling, mind, so we\u2019re talking 960×540 render resolution, but that\u2019s how I play demanding handheld games myself.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Image: Intel<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Intel claims the Arc G3 Extreme is so efficient, you can even game at 1080p and low settings with just 12 watts of electricity, head and often shoulders over the AMD chip there:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Image: Intel<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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And, Intel says the chip can sip as little as 4 watts of electricity in the least demanding games \u2014 for nearly 12 hours of battery life on a charge.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Image: Intel<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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We simply haven\u2019t seen this kind of a leap in handheld gaming PCs so far.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Steam Deck<\/a> set the bar in 2022 with an unbeatable combination of price and efficiency. By 2023\u2019s $549 Steam Deck OLED<\/a>, you could comfortably play modern AAA games at low settings for two hours on a charge, and weaker games for up to eight. Windows competitors could run games more smoothly or at higher settings, but only by consuming far<\/em> more electricity. That\u2019s been true of almost every handheld since, regardless of whether it was powered by an AMD Z1 Extreme, Z2 Extreme, 7840U, 8840U, HX370, or especially<\/a> the AMD \u201cStrix Halo\u201d AI Max Plus 395.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Limited by relatively power-hungry chips, companies found different ways to improve: The Asus ROG Ally X<\/a> literally doubled the Ally\u2019s battery to 80 watt-hours, stretching to 3 hours of medium-weight gameplay or around 9 hours of the lightest play in my tests. The Xbox Ally added large, gamepad style prongs<\/a> that make a heavy handheld more comfortable.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Xbox Ally X (top) has a smaller 7-inch screen than the new Claw (bottom), but both have prongs.<\/em><\/figcaption>Photo by Sean Hollister \/ The Verge<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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But the MSI Claw 8 EX AI Plus, the one with Intel\u2019s new chip, seems to have it all: an 80-watt hour battery, prongs, power, efficiency, drift-resistant Hall effect joysticks, and remarkably smooth gameplay on an 8-inch 120Hz VRR screen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Photo by Sean Hollister \/ The Verge<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Photo by Sean Hollister \/ The Verge<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Intel didn\u2019t let me play all the games I\u2019d like to, but I came prepared knowing Forza Horizon 6 <\/em>would be on display. Before my demo, I played through the first hour of the virtual road trip to Japan<\/a> on the Xbox Ally X, the Steam Deck, and the SI Claw 8 AI Plus<\/a>, the previous-gen Intel Lunar Lake handheld.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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At a native 1920 x 1200 resolution and medium settings, I saw around 40-45 frames per second on the Lunar Lake MSI Claw with its chip set to maximum. I got maybe 50fps from the Xbox Ally X at its lower native screen resolution of 1080p. The game doesn\u2019t even feel playable on Steam Deck at its native 800p resolution, I\u2019m afraid \u2014 the game frequently turned into a jerky mess even at lowest spec.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But the new MSI Claw with Arc G3 Extreme gave me 60-73 fps<\/strong> in Forza Horizon 6 <\/em>at 1200p resolution, without any of Intel\u2019s \u201cfake frames\u201d frame generation turned on. It\u2019s just one data point, but it lines up neatly with Intel\u2019s performance claims, removing some of my doubt.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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And, the new Claw did so while consuming just 43W of total system power, according to MSI\u2019s overlay \u2014 meaning up to 1.8 hours of runtime on an 80 watt-hour battery. The Xbox Ally X consumes closer to 50 watts of total system power in its 35W turbo mode, for more like 1.6 hours of the highest performance you can get.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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I found it way comfier to hold than the previous MSI Claw with Lunar Lake, and it can kind of stand up on its own!<\/em><\/figcaption>Photo by Sean Hollister \/ The Verge<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Intel might offer even more smoothness and power savings if you don\u2019t mind fake frames. Battlefield 6<\/em> looked positively buttery at 110\u2013140fps with 4X frame gen, not that I could hold my own in multiplayer without plugging in a mouse, keyboard, and larger screen, to say nothing of latency. But that was Intel\u2019s new chip set to 25W TDP and total power draw of just 38W, suggesting I could get two full hours of gameplay on the 80Wh battery. After my two hour session (which included some still photography, mind), the new Claw still had 29 percent left in the tank.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The new Claw is also the most comfortable handheld I\u2019ve held yet, with excellent weight balance and incredibly grippy textured grips. It\u2019s large, but it feels lighter than I would expect, and I\u2019m no longer worried it might slip out of sweaty hands. I\u2019m a little less sure about the controls \u2014 the 8-way D-pad is very<\/em> clicky, the bumpers feel a bit hollow, the sticks and triggers still have a slightly cheap feel like the previous Claw \u2014 but everything feels more than serviceable even in the engineering sample I tried.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The click-click-click of the new D-pad will be polarizing, assuming that\u2019s how it\u2019s meant to feel.<\/em><\/figcaption>Photo by Sean Hollister \/ The Verge<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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If you\u2019re thinking \u201cdoes a leap in handhelds matter if you can\u2019t actually afford one, Sean<\/em>?\u201d you\u2019re reading my mind. Just last week, I wrote how the golden age of handheld gaming is already over<\/a> due to price hikes, and it appears you\u2019ll pay dearly for this handheld: $1,699.99 at Best Buy<\/a>. That\u2019s even more than the $1,500 price we and other journalists were told the company was targeting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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One way to look at that: It\u2019s too much money, period. Gaming shouldn\u2019t be such a luxury!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Another thought: Compared to the $1,000 Xbox Ally X, this is a 70 percent price increase for 42 percent more performance on average, which sounds not great.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But either way, it should launch June 23rd, and it looks like handhelds are finally springing forward again. I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if my next device has Intel Inside \u2014 when or if RAMageddon<\/a> finally ends.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Update, June 2nd: <\/strong>A Best Buy listing has revealed the price will be $1,699.99, unless someone there goofed.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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