Heading into Computex 2025, the biggest overseas tech event, I fully expected Asus to finally show off the new handheld they’ve been teasing. Especially after those leaked images and specs popped up a few months back. But so far? Nothing. No news, no reveal. What did catch my attention, though, was MSI, with yet another handheld gaming device, the Claw A8.
This comes after the original MSI Claw, followed by the Claw 8 AI+ and Claw 7 AI+. I heard some positive things about those, but I’ve never seen them show up in stores. Meanwhile, YouTubers and other influencers already had them in hand.
Now comes the MSI Claw A8, and I have to admit, this one surprised me. MSI has dropped Intel entirely and gone with AMD’s latest SoC, the Ryzen Z2 Extreme. It’s supposed to be powerful and efficient, built on Zen 5 architecture with RDNA 3.5 graphics. Looking at the shell, it has also gone through a few changes, as the once rounded bottom edges are now sharp lines.
The Claw A8, at least on paper, looks promising. It features an eight-inch 1200p display with VRR support, twenty-four gigabytes of DDR5 RAM, an 80Wh battery, and that new Zen 5-based chip powering it all.
| Specification | Details |
|---|---|
| Processor | AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme |
| CPU Cores/Threads | 8 Cores / 16 Threads (“Zen 5”) |
| Graphics | Radeon 16CU iGPU (“RDNA 3.5”) |
| RAM | 24GB LPDDR5X @ 8000MHz |
| Storage | 1x 2280 NVMe SSD |
| Display | 8″ 1920x1200p VRR Display |
| Wireless | WiFi 6E + Bluetooth 5.3 |
| USB Ports | 2x USB 4 Ports |
| Security | Fingerprint Sensor |
| Battery | 80Wh Battery |
| Weight | 765g (1.68 lbs) |
I haven’t heard or seen anyone comment on the MSI Claw A*’s performance yet, but at least on paper, this already beats the ASUS ROG Ally X—previously the top dog among AMD-powered handhelds.
The downside is that it’s still using Windows as the OS. But now that it’s running an AMD SoC, once it hits the market, it won’t be long before Bazzite or even SteamOS is running on it. Still, it sounds great, and I’ll give credit to MSI for not giving up. When the first MSI Claw launched, it was rough. So much so that MSI went back, redesigned it, and now, here we are again with another big revision.
Honestly, if this performs even just a bit better than the ROG Ally X, the 8-inch screen alone is enough to get me excited. I love my Ally X, but that 7-inch display always felt a little cramped.
I’ll be keeping an eye out for more details and hopefully a price announcement later this year.
