MSI Claw A1M With Intel Core Ultra 7 Chip, 7-Inch Screen Launched at CES 2024; to Rival Steam Deck, ROG Ally

MSI Claw A1M was unveiled at CES 2024 as the company’s first handheld gaming device. It runs on Windows 11 and is powered by an Intel Meteor Lake chip that supports Intel’s XeSS AI upscaling technology for games. MSI’s handheld gaming PC features a 7-inch 1080p screen with a 120Hz refresh rate. The MSI Claw A1M is equipped with a 53WHr battery — its competitors the Steam Deck and Asus ROG Ally have a 40WHr battery, while the Steam Deck OLED has a 50WHr battery.

Details on availability of the MSI Claw A1M are yet to be announced. Pricing for the handheld starts at $699 (roughly Rs. 58,100) in the US and it will arrive in a single Black colourway. It will compete with the Asus ROG Ally that was launched at $699 (the Ally costs Rs. 69,990 in India) and the Steam Deck and Steam Deck OLED that start at $399 (roughly Rs. 33,200) and $549 (roughly Rs. 45,600), respectively. There’s also no word on whether the MSI Claw AM1 will be available for purchase in India.

MSI Claw A1M specifications

The MSI Claw AM1 sports a 7-inch full-HD (1,920×1080 pixels) IPS touchscreen display with 500 nits of peak brightness and a 120Hz refresh rate, which means if offers a higher on-device resolution compared to Steam’s handheld gaming devices. It is powered by Intel’s new Core Ultra 7 (Series 1) processor and runs on Windows 11 Home out-of-the-box.

The MSI Claw A1M is equipped with front facing speakers

The device is equipped with 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM and comes with a NVMe M.2 SSD along with a MicroSD card slot. Connectivity options on the MSI Claw A1M include Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, a Thunderbolt 4 (Type-C) port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

MSI’s new handheld gaming PC has bumpers, triggers, thumb sticks, ABXY buttons, a D-Pad, volume buttons, and a power button with an integrated fingerprint sensor. It packs a 6-cell, 53WHr lithium polymer battery with 65W USB PD 3.0 charging support. It is equipped with two 2W speakers with Hi-Res Audio. It measures 294x117x21.2mm and weighs 675g.