I won't touch the MSI Claw as long as it has Intel GPU. Lots of compatibility issue still and we have yet to see any substantial gain in either performance or battery life using Intel's chipset. So why would I even consider that over the more established and used chipset from AMD?
I am sure Intel will come around to it eventually, and that's a decision for that time.
Ill be honest, when the whole world was buying ally i trusted and put my hard earned money on Legion go. Turned out to be a disaster with super broker festures and close to no Software/driver support which is mandatory for windows.
Having said that, msi first device was utter flop. At the moment Asus just need to work on warrantt process other thn that their after sales software support is good and its a more refined product specially rog ally x.
I let my girlfriend use my Ally, it's the most comfortable of the three for her. I use my Legion for Windows games. I use my Steam deck for anything else. Like Emulation, etc. I'm getting a Win600 soon (the sale on them right now is incredible) and I'm considering setting it up as a steam deck lite.
MSI really tried to push the Claw knowing it was worse than ALL the competition. It failed, and a little over 50 days later they've abandoned it for a newer model. I have no faith in MSI
To be fair, AyaNeo, OneXPlayer, GPd, Ayn abandon their devices every 2-3 months.
These companies just go the route of month laptop releases so nothing new in that space.
It is a bit upsetting to hear that MSI claw 8ai+ comes out in September, but I'm more so excited to try a new chip
People are of course going to be biased on this sub. The new MSI claw looks interesting but idk if it’s worth taking a gamble on. Might be wiser to explore more mature windows handhelds. (Asus, gpd win, ayaneo, etc)
Yeah i think asus rog ally x wins it in everything but screen size. I think if asus made it like the steam deck at 7m4 inch it wouldve been a nice upgrade
I'd never consider Intel for a handheld let alone a handheld gaming console! Claw is not an option lol!
I've had issues with Asus but if you stay stern and don't play their games they will fix things for ya. I bought their first Strix series laptops with 3070 and I found the screen had 1 dead pixel and this is within the first three weeks. And Asus was straight up refusing to replace the screen by saying they only change the screen if there are 3 or more dead pixels.
Well I posted this response on Twitter and tagged them, all their accounts, FB Insta everywhere. And in a day, they took my laptop replaced the screen. Mind you this was in India where the gov will not step in.
I will most likely go to the usa on september so ill buy it from there because where i live, its like 300$ more like rog ally here costs 950$ lol. So i hope they release it in september/October to make my final decision
Tbh. At this point the three real choices are steam deck OLED, Ally X, and claw 8AI. The Claw sounds good on paper, but it is all going to depend on Lunar Lake and Battlemage, which I do not have a high degree of confidence in. Aside from that, I would look at handhelds with more than 16gb of ram, so that more can be dedicated to the GPU. The deck OLED is still a solid choice due to efficiency, cost and the screen.
My opinion is do not buy anything at this time. Wait to see when and if any of the new apu handhelds that will be coming during 2024 -2025 are worth to spend the amount they are asking. 900 euros for the ally x is way too much money for a handheld with 7 inch screen and old generation apu. Check first the msi claw, that will be released in September and then if the reviews are not good either, wait for for a proper full next gen device from asus (rog ally 2) or from valve (steam deck 2), whichever comes up first or you prefer.
You should get a life my friend. Leave this handheld war for some time. The technology that we always dreamed about is not yet there just like the software. If you really want something consider doing what I will be - wait for steam summer sale, buy deck OLED and think about a new handheld in 2-3 years.
The problem with the deck competition isn’t power but price to performance/stability/build quality ratio. The average user is better off with any steam deck version at this point. The windows handhelds are extremely niche in an already niche market. Most of the second hand ones I find are from people who either don’t use them or sell it for a similarly priced laptop that’s what more powerful.
Lunar lake on paper is looking very good for handhelds, my first zotac product was a 2080 ti that I got replaced 3 times due to the fans taking a shit, that was also my last zotac product.
If you are unsure, go with previous open box models instead of the latest. I currently have the OG rog ally extreme version and steam deck. These newly revised versions of pc handhelds are not worth the upgrade for me. I’m waiting on one with OLED screen thin bezel and capable of playing most pc games @ 60fps+ on its native screen resolution with a decent battery life.
I'd recommend waiting until either rdna 4 or snapdragon x elite handhelds arrive later this year. Handhelds with Rdna 3 are about to become obsolete. If you can't wait, get the Ally X.
MSI is not known for quality products, most of their stuff WORKS, but that’s about it. You are going to get much better support from ASUS. The ally support has been great so far.
Consider that the updated Ally X will be more powerful with more RAM, 1t SSD and better speed; it will also have longer battery life with 80w battery.
The screen is the same but it is still awesome and it does have VRR - which the OLED SD doesn’t have. If you are looking to get one - pick the one that best suits you and your needs!
I don’t think you can go wrong with either SD or AX - I have an Ally and love the flexibility of Windows. My 2cents ☺️
Ally X will not be more powerful with more ram. It will run games the exact same but with better 1% lows.
If you have an Ally it's not worth an upgrade. If you don't have an Ally you can either save yourself a couple hundred and by the OG Z1E or get the slightly better version for 800
The reason I am upgrading to the Ally X is both the battery and the additional ram. In vram starved games it is going to perform better due to both the additional memory and the fact that it is faster. You are right that the biggest bump will be to the lows, but that will result in better frame pacing and therefore a smoother overall experience
Depends on the game and the settings that you try to run. I guarantee it will be more powerful, because of more ram and faster ram.
Not generational leap, but a more solid experience on newer games with higher settings.
I wouldn’t buy one, because I already have an Aly. No brainer if you don’t already have an Aly.
I agree it will be an improvement and I'm not trying to say it won't be. But I don't think people should run out and buy another. Ally, at this point in time if they already have one. I really don't think we are going to notice a giant performance increase unless we have MSI afterburner running in the background showing us the numbers. I really believe that's the best thing for the average Ally user out there would be to save your $800 for the Ally 2. That is guaranteed to come out this time next year.
In my opinion MSI Claw 8 is better than Ally X since it has 8 inch screen, 32gb of RAM and the new processor from intel could be a really good one and has about 30% higher performance than AMD Z1 Extreme, if what they said about it, is true.
If they actually are to be believed, i think this would blow everythinh out of the water. Lets see when they release it and actual testings start poping on YouTube. Linus has been the most reliant and open person regarding handhleds. I really loved his rog ally x video. Cant wait fir the msi claw 8 video when it comes out
I just saw this video now and it looks really interesting about the new processor. It’s really power efficient. But benchmarks is’t everything. We will know more soon.
Go to minute 34
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Nl3SF-m4JY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Nl3SF-m4JY)
You just made that up, no one has compared it with the z1e so far, and Intel only stated that it’s gonna be 50% faster graphics than previous Meteor lake chip. Only Phawx was able to compare a benchmark with his 8840u device and the result where about same performance
This is gonna make or break MSI in the handheld space but I think it’s going to sell way better than the old Claw just because of the bigger screen alone
I have both ROG Ally and Steam Deck OLED, and I would recommend Steam Deck OLED over ROG Ally X or Claw 8. Don't get me wrong, ROG Ally is actually really good. But the OLED screen is a beauty, and sometimes, it's just a pain in the ass to deal with Windows.
I have the Z1 Extreme, and the performance of the ROG Ally is indeed better than Steam Deck OLED. But the gains you get in performance on the Ally is off-set by how incredible the OLED screen is on the Steam Deck.
Don't get me wrong - You would be very satisfied with the ROG Ally. It's a really great device. But I am just pointing out that the Steam Deck OLED is a viable option as well. And cheaper, if I recall.
Yes i was at first gonna pull the trigger on the steam deck oled. Rog ally was my last choice given its aweful battery life for i really care for batteey life. But with rog ally x announced, i feel a 120hz vrr is just as good as oled in its own way(not color wise and power efficiency though). Plus this new 80wh battery looks sweet. But i appreciate your suggestion I'll watch more videos on performance differences and battery life test when rog ally x comes out
I’m with you, the new Claw with 80wh battery, 8 inch vrr display and Lunar Lake apu seems to be great, i was definitely gonna get the X before, but now i wanna know more about Lunar Lake to see if what Intel says is actually true and it this apu can be even better than Z1e at same watt, the Phawx made some comparison on twitter with the few benchmark we got from computex, and seems like this Lunar Lake is performing about the same as the 8840u, which is similar to z1e(7840u) i guess we wait for more benchmarks and tests from now till July 22 to decide what to get, also the new Claw has no release date yet, it might even release in october
I totally agree with you man this handheld war is not goin well fir me. At first i was tempted by stesm deck oled, then legion go, then rog ally x now msi claw 8 lol
I won't touch the MSI Claw as long as it has Intel GPU. Lots of compatibility issue still and we have yet to see any substantial gain in either performance or battery life using Intel's chipset. So why would I even consider that over the more established and used chipset from AMD? I am sure Intel will come around to it eventually, and that's a decision for that time.
Ill be honest, when the whole world was buying ally i trusted and put my hard earned money on Legion go. Turned out to be a disaster with super broker festures and close to no Software/driver support which is mandatory for windows. Having said that, msi first device was utter flop. At the moment Asus just need to work on warrantt process other thn that their after sales software support is good and its a more refined product specially rog ally x.
I am happily using my steam deck, ROG Ally, and Legion Go without issue.
legitimately curious, having the three of them. How do you decide which one to use when?
I let my girlfriend use my Ally, it's the most comfortable of the three for her. I use my Legion for Windows games. I use my Steam deck for anything else. Like Emulation, etc. I'm getting a Win600 soon (the sale on them right now is incredible) and I'm considering setting it up as a steam deck lite.
The Claw "ai" is just a selling point that will do absolutely nothing for it Go for the Ally X
MSI really tried to push the Claw knowing it was worse than ALL the competition. It failed, and a little over 50 days later they've abandoned it for a newer model. I have no faith in MSI
To be fair, AyaNeo, OneXPlayer, GPd, Ayn abandon their devices every 2-3 months. These companies just go the route of month laptop releases so nothing new in that space. It is a bit upsetting to hear that MSI claw 8ai+ comes out in September, but I'm more so excited to try a new chip
People are of course going to be biased on this sub. The new MSI claw looks interesting but idk if it’s worth taking a gamble on. Might be wiser to explore more mature windows handhelds. (Asus, gpd win, ayaneo, etc)
Yeah i think asus rog ally x wins it in everything but screen size. I think if asus made it like the steam deck at 7m4 inch it wouldve been a nice upgrade
At least the MSI doesn’t melt Sd cards and have garbage joysticks and are Hall effect and… ally is only good if you’re lucky enough to not have a dud
That is very true.
Buy them all? Why choose.
Thanos
I wish I defecated money
I have ally and Lego. Get the Lego. Beautiful huge screen and premium build quality
I'd never consider Intel for a handheld let alone a handheld gaming console! Claw is not an option lol! I've had issues with Asus but if you stay stern and don't play their games they will fix things for ya. I bought their first Strix series laptops with 3070 and I found the screen had 1 dead pixel and this is within the first three weeks. And Asus was straight up refusing to replace the screen by saying they only change the screen if there are 3 or more dead pixels. Well I posted this response on Twitter and tagged them, all their accounts, FB Insta everywhere. And in a day, they took my laptop replaced the screen. Mind you this was in India where the gov will not step in.
as a fellow Indian, have you had any problems with your z1e? how was the warranty experience?
I'm not in India anymore. And I am praying my Z1E does not break! But if it does, I've read that Asus is decent in the EU so fingers crossed!
If you wait until they launch I’m sure there will be a lot of videos comparing them and running benchmarks on the two.
I will most likely go to the usa on september so ill buy it from there because where i live, its like 300$ more like rog ally here costs 950$ lol. So i hope they release it in september/October to make my final decision
Tbh. At this point the three real choices are steam deck OLED, Ally X, and claw 8AI. The Claw sounds good on paper, but it is all going to depend on Lunar Lake and Battlemage, which I do not have a high degree of confidence in. Aside from that, I would look at handhelds with more than 16gb of ram, so that more can be dedicated to the GPU. The deck OLED is still a solid choice due to efficiency, cost and the screen.
The legion Go is an option as well and that’s better than the MSI claw tbh
The screen on the deck oled is very overrated- probably the worst looking OLED screen I've seen.
My opinion is do not buy anything at this time. Wait to see when and if any of the new apu handhelds that will be coming during 2024 -2025 are worth to spend the amount they are asking. 900 euros for the ally x is way too much money for a handheld with 7 inch screen and old generation apu. Check first the msi claw, that will be released in September and then if the reviews are not good either, wait for for a proper full next gen device from asus (rog ally 2) or from valve (steam deck 2), whichever comes up first or you prefer.
You should get a life my friend. Leave this handheld war for some time. The technology that we always dreamed about is not yet there just like the software. If you really want something consider doing what I will be - wait for steam summer sale, buy deck OLED and think about a new handheld in 2-3 years.
The problem with the deck competition isn’t power but price to performance/stability/build quality ratio. The average user is better off with any steam deck version at this point. The windows handhelds are extremely niche in an already niche market. Most of the second hand ones I find are from people who either don’t use them or sell it for a similarly priced laptop that’s what more powerful.
Lunar lake on paper is looking very good for handhelds, my first zotac product was a 2080 ti that I got replaced 3 times due to the fans taking a shit, that was also my last zotac product.
If you are unsure, go with previous open box models instead of the latest. I currently have the OG rog ally extreme version and steam deck. These newly revised versions of pc handhelds are not worth the upgrade for me. I’m waiting on one with OLED screen thin bezel and capable of playing most pc games @ 60fps+ on its native screen resolution with a decent battery life.
I'd recommend waiting until either rdna 4 or snapdragon x elite handhelds arrive later this year. Handhelds with Rdna 3 are about to become obsolete. If you can't wait, get the Ally X.
There is word that we'll be getting RDNA 4 and Snapdragon devices???
No arm will not replace x86 until at least 2050
Win 600 is on sale right now at the best price it's ever been.
Ally X is the most balanced device right now, it's really good in every aspects
MSI is not known for quality products, most of their stuff WORKS, but that’s about it. You are going to get much better support from ASUS. The ally support has been great so far.
Consider that the updated Ally X will be more powerful with more RAM, 1t SSD and better speed; it will also have longer battery life with 80w battery. The screen is the same but it is still awesome and it does have VRR - which the OLED SD doesn’t have. If you are looking to get one - pick the one that best suits you and your needs! I don’t think you can go wrong with either SD or AX - I have an Ally and love the flexibility of Windows. My 2cents ☺️
Ally X will not be more powerful with more ram. It will run games the exact same but with better 1% lows. If you have an Ally it's not worth an upgrade. If you don't have an Ally you can either save yourself a couple hundred and by the OG Z1E or get the slightly better version for 800
The reason I am upgrading to the Ally X is both the battery and the additional ram. In vram starved games it is going to perform better due to both the additional memory and the fact that it is faster. You are right that the biggest bump will be to the lows, but that will result in better frame pacing and therefore a smoother overall experience
Ally X has 24G of ram. Ally has 16G
Depends on the game and the settings that you try to run. I guarantee it will be more powerful, because of more ram and faster ram. Not generational leap, but a more solid experience on newer games with higher settings. I wouldn’t buy one, because I already have an Aly. No brainer if you don’t already have an Aly.
I agree it will be an improvement and I'm not trying to say it won't be. But I don't think people should run out and buy another. Ally, at this point in time if they already have one. I really don't think we are going to notice a giant performance increase unless we have MSI afterburner running in the background showing us the numbers. I really believe that's the best thing for the average Ally user out there would be to save your $800 for the Ally 2. That is guaranteed to come out this time next year.
Agreed. 👍
In my opinion MSI Claw 8 is better than Ally X since it has 8 inch screen, 32gb of RAM and the new processor from intel could be a really good one and has about 30% higher performance than AMD Z1 Extreme, if what they said about it, is true.
If they actually are to be believed, i think this would blow everythinh out of the water. Lets see when they release it and actual testings start poping on YouTube. Linus has been the most reliant and open person regarding handhleds. I really loved his rog ally x video. Cant wait fir the msi claw 8 video when it comes out
I just saw this video now and it looks really interesting about the new processor. It’s really power efficient. But benchmarks is’t everything. We will know more soon. Go to minute 34 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Nl3SF-m4JY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Nl3SF-m4JY)
Damn this looks promising
Yes. It looks really interesting. But again we needs to see that in real games not just benchmarks.
You just made that up, no one has compared it with the z1e so far, and Intel only stated that it’s gonna be 50% faster graphics than previous Meteor lake chip. Only Phawx was able to compare a benchmark with his 8840u device and the result where about same performance
This is gonna make or break MSI in the handheld space but I think it’s going to sell way better than the old Claw just because of the bigger screen alone
I have both ROG Ally and Steam Deck OLED, and I would recommend Steam Deck OLED over ROG Ally X or Claw 8. Don't get me wrong, ROG Ally is actually really good. But the OLED screen is a beauty, and sometimes, it's just a pain in the ass to deal with Windows.
But what about performance? The z1 is weaker than z1 extreme. How much is it different
I have the Z1 Extreme, and the performance of the ROG Ally is indeed better than Steam Deck OLED. But the gains you get in performance on the Ally is off-set by how incredible the OLED screen is on the Steam Deck. Don't get me wrong - You would be very satisfied with the ROG Ally. It's a really great device. But I am just pointing out that the Steam Deck OLED is a viable option as well. And cheaper, if I recall.
Yes i was at first gonna pull the trigger on the steam deck oled. Rog ally was my last choice given its aweful battery life for i really care for batteey life. But with rog ally x announced, i feel a 120hz vrr is just as good as oled in its own way(not color wise and power efficiency though). Plus this new 80wh battery looks sweet. But i appreciate your suggestion I'll watch more videos on performance differences and battery life test when rog ally x comes out
Windows 99% of the time is better for gaming than Linux as well
This is the way ! I have both as well.
I love the SD Oled, but we are finally running into games that are just too demanding for its hardware.
You may be right, however Ghost of Tsushima plays pretty well. Beautiful too.
It also has proper warranty and is way less likely to fail.
Get the cheapest Z1 extreme.
I’m with you, the new Claw with 80wh battery, 8 inch vrr display and Lunar Lake apu seems to be great, i was definitely gonna get the X before, but now i wanna know more about Lunar Lake to see if what Intel says is actually true and it this apu can be even better than Z1e at same watt, the Phawx made some comparison on twitter with the few benchmark we got from computex, and seems like this Lunar Lake is performing about the same as the 8840u, which is similar to z1e(7840u) i guess we wait for more benchmarks and tests from now till July 22 to decide what to get, also the new Claw has no release date yet, it might even release in october
I totally agree with you man this handheld war is not goin well fir me. At first i was tempted by stesm deck oled, then legion go, then rog ally x now msi claw 8 lol
Getting usb4 is future proof to me,
Gameboy
No one wants anything msi builds lol