All tests were run in pure rasterization at either 1920 × 1080 or 1200p, with ray‑tracing turned off unless we specifically wanted to see its impact. The headline result? The Claw 8 EX AI+ delivers 10 %‑25 % more horsepower than the ROG Ally X that runs on AMD's Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme across four common benchmarks. Let that sink in: a single‑digit to low‑double‑digit uplift in a market where every frame counts.

In the real‑world showcase title Forza Horizon 6 the Elevated preset nudges the frame‑rate to roughly 60 fps. Flip on ray‑tracing and the numbers dip: Elevated + RT gives you about 43 fps, while Ultra + RT drops to around 30 fps. Activate Intel's XeSS upscaling in Performance mode and you're back to a buttery 61 fps on the same Elevated preset. That's the kind of flexibility that makes the "AI Engine" label feel less like marketing fluff and more like an actual option.

A quick note on the Intel Graphics Software: it's not pinned to the Xbox shortcut bar by default. To fiddle with XeSS, Multi‑Frame Generation, or any of the other knobs you have to dive into the Desktop mode, hunt down the buried utility, and then test compatibility yourself—there's no blanket certification. So if you love tinkering, bring your patience.

Grandma‑Friendly Tech Breakdown: What’s Inside the Beast?

Imagine the Claw 8 EX AI+ as a lunchbox. Inside you've got a sandwich (the CPU) made of 14 slices of turkey that can each run really fast when needed. Next to it is a side salad (the GPU) with 12 little lettuce leaves that handle the pictures on the screen. The sandwich and salad share a fridge (the 32 GB RAM) that keeps things cool and ready to go. The pantry is a massive 1 TB shelf where all your games, saves, and snacks live.

To keep the sandwich from getting soggy, MSI added two tiny fans and a big metal radiator—think of a mini‑air‑conditioner for the lunchbox. When you're playing a graphically heavy title, the fans spin up and you might hear a hum that peaks at 38.7 dB (about the noise of a quiet refrigerator). Drop to a lighter game and the fans whisper down to almost nothing.

The screen is an 8‑inch IPS panel that shows 1920 × 1200 pixels at a buttery 120 Hz refresh rate. Colors are measured with a delta‑E of 2.3 (anything under 3 is considered "good enough for most eyes"), contrast sits at 1412:1, and pixel response is 12 ms. The panel runs a bit cooler than an OLED would, but it's bright enough—max 499 cd/m²—to fight glare if you're in a dim room.

Finally, the joysticks use Hall‑effect sensors (no old‑school potentiometers) which means stick drift should be a rarity—a welcome nod to the premium price tag.

Build & Ergonomics: Grips, Weight, and the D‑Pad Debacle

Let's start with the good news: the side grips have been reshaped so the 8‑inch display literally overflows the chassis, giving your palms a more natural curve. The joysticks feel tight, thanks to those Hall‑effect sensors, and the texture on the grips mimics what you'd find on an Xbox Series controller—familiar, comfortable, and not slippery.

Now the not‑so‑great news. The overall footprint is… hefty. At 722 g and dimensions that make it feel like a small brick, the Claw 8 EX AI+ isn't exactly a "toss‑it‑in‑your‑pocket" kind of device. After a couple of hours of intense gaming you'll notice the weight in your wrists, and the article outright suggests you'll want to rest your forearms on a desk to avoid fatigue.

The D‑pad, however, is where the wheels come off. It's convex, with sharply defined edges and a glossy finish that clashes with the matte‑textured body. In practice it feels stiff, and trying to snap from one cardinal direction to another often triggers an accidental diagonal. For 2D platformers or fighting games that demand crisp directional inputs, this is a genuine pain point. The testers bluntly state the D‑pad is "completely to revoir."

Additional hardware niceties include two USB‑C Thunderbolt 4 ports, a microSD reader, a headphone jack, and a power button that doubles as a fingerprint reader. Wireless wise you get Wi‑Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6—solid, future‑proof connectivity.

Display Deep Dive: IPS Glory, OLED Absence

The panel on the Claw 8 EX AI+ is an IPS screen measuring eight inches diagonally, with a native resolution of 1920 × 1200 (FHD+) and a 120 Hz refresh rate. Color accuracy comes in at a delta‑E of 2.3, which is under the perceptible threshold of 3 where most folks would notice a shift. Contrast is measured at 1412:1—respectable for IPS but nowhere near the infinite‑contrast promise of OLED.

Two quirks drag the experience down. First, the color temperature runs hot at 7288 K, well above the ideal 6500 K, giving the image a slightly bluish cast that the article notes is a common trait among handheld PCs trying to "flatter" supposed gamer preferences. Second, the panel reflects 48 % of ambient light, making it glare‑prone unless you're playing in a dark room or have the brightness cranked near its max of 499 cd/m². In short: it's a decent IPS panel, but the lack of an OLED option at this price feels like a missed opportunity.

Software Showdown: Windows 11 + Xbox + MSI Center – Why It Feels Like a Tax Return

Out of the box the Claw 8 EX AI+ boots straight into Windows 11 with the Xbox Full‑Screen Experience enabled. Flip to Desktop mode and you'll see the usual Microsoft suite—Teams, Copilot, and the rest—already turned on. For a device sold purely for gaming, that bundle feels about as useful as a screen door on a submarine.

Setup mirrors what you'd get on a laptop: you need to link a Microsoft account, set up a PIN, and wade through the usual Windows oobe. The article laments that this process has no place on a pure‑play gaming handheld and makes the user pine for the simplicity of SteamOS—which, by the way, can be sideloaded onto the machine thanks to recent Valve updates, though that's outside the scope of this factory‑state review.

Then there's MSI Center. It splits into a standalone app and a side‑panel menu that lets you tweak TDP, remap buttons, and adjust other hardware knobs. The interface is stark, devoid of animations, and therefore lacking visual feedback. Switching from the app back to a game often kills controller input unless you tap the touchscreen—a frustrating loop that the testers ran into repeatedly. The launcher for games feels redundant when the Xbox UI already does the job, and the side‑panel button shares its real‑estate with the Xbox Bar button, causing a half‑second delay as the Xbox widgets pop up before the MSI menu appears. The ROG Ally X, by comparison, had a dedicated extra button just for Xbox duties—a small but meaningful quality‑of‑life touch missing here.

All of these software frictions add up to an experience that the reviewer describes as "laborious at best." If you enjoy tinkering with settings and don't mind a few extra clicks, you'll survive. If you just want to press a button and start fragging, prepare for some mild annoyance.

Quick‑Fire Tips: How to Survive (and Maybe Love) the Claw 8 EX AI+

• 🔋 Keep a USB‑C charger handy; the battery life is "honorable" but not marathon‑level.
• 🧠 Use the AI Engine mode for automatic TDP tuning—no need to babysit sliders.
• 🖱️ When jumping between MSI Center and a game, give the touchscreen a quick tap to keep the controller alive.
• 🎧 Plug in headphones via the 3.5 mm jack; the audio path is clean and avoids any Bluetooth lag.
• 💡 Dim the room or crank the brightness near 499 cd/m² to counter the 48 % reflectivity of the IPS panel.
• 🕹️ If you're a fan of precise 2D platformers, consider an external controller; the built‑in D‑pad is a known weak spot.
• 💾 Store your biggest titles on the 1 TB SSD—you've got the space, so why not?
• 🛡️ Enable Windows Hello via the fingerprint‑power button for fast, secure logins.
• 🔧 Occasionally vent the fans; a quick blast of compressed air keeps the radiator from getting dusty.

Final Verdict: Is the Claw 8 EX AI+ Worth the Premium?

Let's put the pieces on the table. The Claw 8 EX AI+ is undeniably a performance monster—Intel's Arc G3 Extreme shines, delivering a tangible 10‑25 % edge over the current AMD‑based competition in real‑world benchmarks. The Hall‑effect joysticks, solid build quality, and a nicely calibrated IPS screen are genuine highlights that justify a portion of the asking price.

However, the premium feels bruised by a handful of avoidable flaws. The D‑pad is a genuine usability nightmare for anyone who cares about crisp directional inputs. The software stack—Windows 11 loaded with Xbox extras, a bland MSI Center interface, and the awkward button sharing—adds friction that clashes with the "pick up and play" promise of a handheld. And while the battery life is deemed "honorable," it doesn't blow away the competition, especially when you're lugging around a 722 g brick.

At €1 599 (roughly the cost of a mid‑range gaming laptop) the Claw 8 EX AI+ asks you to pay for top‑silicon performance while still handing you a chassis that could use a refinement pass and a software suite that feels like an afterthought. If you crave raw power and are willing to wrestle with a few quirks, it's a viable—if pricey—option. If you value seamless ergonomics, a polished software experience, and a D‑pad that doesn't fight you, you might be better off saving those euros for a ROG Ally X (which is €500 cheaper) and letting the extra cash fund a library of games or a decent external controller.

In the end, the Claw 8 EX AI+ is a proof‑of‑concept that Intel can compete in the handheld‑APU arena, but the execution still leaves room for improvement. Whether that's worth the premium is a call only your wallet—and your tolerance for wonky D‑pads—can make.