MSI Claw Handheld with Intel Meteor Lake Tested Against ASUS ROG Ally

Intel’s MSI Claw handheld device, powered by the Meteor Lake processor has undergone testing and comparison, with ASUS ROG Ally, which is equipped with the AMD Ryzen Z1 series.

The All New MSI Claw Handheld

The MSI Claw has attracted attention as an indicator of Intel’s Meteor Lake SKU’s performance in the handheld market. While not yet widely available several Chinese reviewers have obtained units for evaluation. Have compared them to competitors in the market to provide valuable insights for potential buyers.

Before diving into the reviews let’s take a look at the specifications of the MSI Claw. It is offered in two versions: the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H and the Core Ultra 5 135H each showcasing variations in performance. Reviewers conducted tests on the device particularly focusing on gaming scenarios to shed light on the expected performance of both models and how they stack up against ASUS’s ROG Ally handheld device. These tests included analyzing TDP settings for an assessment.

In benchmarking tests conducted it was consistently observed that the MSI Claw (Core Ultra 155H) lagged behind the ROG Ally across all power levels tested in games like Shadow of The Tomb Raider showing a performance gap ranging from 10 to 15 percent. Similar discrepancies were noted in titles such, as Cyberpunk 2077 and Red Dead Redemption 2.

When looking at the ROG Ally and the MSI Claw it’s worth noting that the ROG Ally has access, to driver support and resources unlike the MSI Claw, which is not currently on the market. As a result, we can anticipate that any performance gap between them may narrow over time although it could still be present, in the future.

Apart from comparing it with the ROG Ally reviewers also compared variants of the MSI Claw against each other emphasizing performance differences between them. With both variants featuring an onboard Intel Meteor Lake SoC but differing in Xe cores and CPU cores noticeable gaps in performance were evident, in demanding games where the difference exceeded 20 percent.

Although these discoveries offer perspectives it’s important to approach them with some caution given that the device’s capabilities could see enhancements as it nears its official release. Nevertheless, it’s clear that the ASUS ROG Ally, featuring the AMD Ryzen Z1 series stands out as a device. It will be intriguing to witness how future-generation models stack up against Intel’s handheld offerings based on Meteor Lake and future Core Ultra CPUs.