When I called MSI Claw embarrassing in my review on May 18, one reviewer pointed out that their benchmark score was higher than mine. Sure enough: MSI had rolled out a new graphics card driver and BIOS update between my benchmarking and our launch.
I have now tested these updates. In some of my tests, they were better. In other ways, I actually find them worse! Overall, they don’t change my conclusion: the MSI Claw is the worst choice among consumer handheld gaming PCs today and should be avoided.
Below, you’ll find my new benchmark results in all Claw’s standard power modes in the same games. In almost every test, you’ll see that the Claw lags far behind the competition in terms of speed while using more power.
New results are bolded. All tests were conducted at 720p low resolution, DiRT Rally was tested at 720p ultra high resolution.
To make matters worse, I still find that Claw makes a big difference between being playable and completely unplayable in more demanding games, whereas the cheaper Steam Deck has no issues. exist Shadow of the Tomb Raider, I saw the game at 720p and medium specs repeatedly and inexplicably drop to 20 fps in a cave with no enemies, then return to a solid 60 fps.
I saw something like Cyberpunk 2077although MSI Claw generally has higher framerates in this game after updates.
And I’m also now seeing some very strange behavior with the Claw regarding power modes. You might expect MSI’s “Performance” mode to be faster than “Balanced” mode, right? This is not what I saw Cyberpunk 2077 — When I looked closely at framerate drops, I noticed that they always coincided with unexpected power drops.
While the Intel Meteor Lake chip consumed a fairly steady 30 watts in balanced mode, it tried to hit 35, 36, and even 37 watts in performance mode, but couldn’t sustain it, dropping to 29 watts again and again. Performance mode works better when plugged into a USB-C power source, consuming between 37 and 45 watts of power continuously. It’s not that the extra power brought improvement cyberpunk, Unfortunately.
If you’re seeing higher scores than I am, I highly recommend you run this benchmark three or four more times, as it looks like MSI is now running its die at an unsustainable speed for a while after you switch power modes and then slows down again speed. The same trick works with the ASUS ROG Ally, where I always have to run my benchmarks an extra number of times before starting to count, so I don’t deviate from the average due to outliers. When I first reviewed Claw, I didn’t need to do this.
At least that’s what MSI and Intel deserve diver dave Unlike my initial review, it now feels like I can play the game at a smooth 60 fps with only the occasional dropout.
Overall, I don’t think the MSI Claw should be on the market at all. I’m glad I never had the urge to buy it when it first came out. I would feel cheated, just like users on MSI’s own forums said they felt cheated, and now MSI has announced not one, but two improved versions less than three months after the original release.
It certainly doesn’t help that the company sold it before giving reviewers a chance to warn anyone.
If MSI is serious about the handheld space, and it sounds like the company is, I think it should offer a trade-in program for buyers of the original Claw. If you want to fix that problem, MSI, let them pick up one of their revisions this fall at a significant discount.
