If you told me five years ago that we would have a cost-effective way to play PC games on a compact handheld without compromise I never would have believed you. While it was technically possible to take your titles with you, these machines were usually incredibly pricey and only available in niche quantities making them not ideal for a wider market. In 2024, however, the opposite problem is true as more hardware manufacturers are vying for an increasingly slight slice of the handheld PC pie.
Fast forward to 2024 and it’s become more challenging to separate the wave of incoming handheld gaming PCs by their USP. For example, we got our first look at the MSI Claw earlier this year, with many outlets reviewing the machine in March and April. It was generally disliked by critics for its buggy software and high price tag, even surpassing the sticker price of the Lenovo Legion Go with less to offer.
Our hands-on revealed a decent enough feel in the hand, with a neat 7-inch AMOLED display, but we weren’t totally convinced about how it would stack up against its growing list of rivals.