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MSI Revealed a New Handheld With AMD Ryzen APU

By / Tech / May 23, 2025

MSI has redefined the Claw handheld with an AMD Ryzen APU to offer higher gaming performance and better compete with ROG Ally and Steam Deck.

The new MSI Claw A8 BZ2EM
The new MSI Claw A8 BZ2EM (Image via MSI)

When MSI first revealed the Claw A1M, it had an Intel Meteor Lake chip that delivered lackluster performance and had a lot of issues in many games compared to handhelds like the ROG Ally, Steam Deck, or Lenovo Legion Go. MSI later updated the Claw with an Intel Lunar chip, which did improve gaming performance significantly, but it was still behind the other consoles. That’s because the other consoles had an AMD Ryzen APU that was superior in gaming performance compared to Intel chips.

At Computex 2025, MSI jumped onto the AMD bandwagon and showcased a redesigned Claw with an AMD Ryzen APU to deliver much-improved gaming performance and a better user experience. In this article, we will analyze the new MSI Claw A8 model and see if it’s a worthy competitor to the ASUS ROG Ally, Steam Deck, or Lenovo Legion Go.

Note: The article is subjective and reflects the writer’s opinions.

The Redefined MSI Claw A8: Everything To Know

The new MSI Claw A8 compared to Claw 8 AI+
The new MSI Claw A8 compared to Claw 8 AI+ (Image via MSI)

The MSI Claw A8 is powered by the AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme APU, which is paired with up to 24GB of fast LPDDR5X-8000 dual-channel memory to deliver the best performance. The Lenovo Legion Go 2 is also powered by the same Ryzen chip but supports slower LPDDR5X-7500 memory. Due to the faster memory, the Claw A8 should deliver better gaming performance, as Ryzen APUs heavily rely on memory speeds.

It will have the same 8-inch FHD display with 120 Hz refresh rate support and a 1TB M.2 SSD. However, MSI hasn’t revealed anything about the battery, but if it uses the same 80W battery capacity as the last Claw 8 AI+ Intel model, then you can expect great battery life. Other specs should remain the same as the previous Claw variants.

What Does the New MSI Claw Bring to the Table?

Apart from the new AMD chip, MSI also redesigned the body of the handheld to better accommodate the new chip and deliver better thermals. The speaker position has moved up slightly, and the edges now appear to be a bit sharper than before. The new MSI Claw will come in different color options: White and Lime Green. There could be more changes, which we won’t learn until MSI launches the new handheld. Stay tuned to learn more about it.

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