‘I want one. And you should too. But I’m not convinced either of us can afford it’ — the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ gave me staggering performance with its Intel Arc G3 Extreme SoC but I’ll never stretch to that price

Honestly, the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ has changed what I believed a handheld console is capable of. The Intel Arc G3 Extreme chipset it’s packing offers astounding performance, delivering fantastically smooth frame-rates for modern games like Doom: The Dark Ages and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. That screen is gorgeous and richly colored and the Hall effect thumbsticks and triggers are hard wearing and sensitive. But there’s a catch: it costs easily as much as many midrange gaming laptops, while not being able to rival them for performance. And that seriously limits the number of people I’d expect to buy one.

Pros

+Absurdly powerful chipset

+Staggering performance

+Vibrant and super-smooth 120Hz display