MSI teases Claw 8 AI+ gaming handheld: Intel Lunar Lake, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, 80Whr battery

If you were about to pull the trigger on the MSI Claw gaming handheld... don't, wait for MSI's beefed-up Claw 8 AI+ gaming handheld which is powered by Intel's next-gen Lunar Lake CPU.

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MSI teased its upgraded Claw 8 AI+ at Computex 2024 surprising most people, inside we'll see Intel's upcoming Core Ultra 20V series "Lunar Lake" processor, which has more performance, more gaming performance, and better power efficiency. Great stuff for a gaming handheld, and much better than the Intel Meteor Lake chip inside of the current Claw 7 gaming handheld.

MSI's new Claw 8 AI+ gaming handheld doesn't just have the new Lunar Lake processor, but a bigger 8-inch screen, and a much bigger battery. The original MSI Claw 7 shipped with the Intel Core Ultra 100H series "Meteor Lake" CPUs, LPDDR5-6400 memory, a 7-inch 1080p 120Hz VRR display, a 53WHr battery, and 1 x Thunderbolt 4 port.

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MSI wasn't clear on which Intel Lunar Lake CPU it'll have inside of the Claw 8 AI+ gaming handheld, but we do know that the display will be an 8-inch 16:10 Full HD+ (1920 x 1200) display with a smooth 120Hz refresh rate, up to 500 nits of brightness, and IPS-level quality with Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) support.

Here's what the MSI Claw 8 AI+ has inside:

• CPU: Intel Core Ultra 200 "Lunar Lake"
• Color: Sand Dune
• Display: 8-inch 1920 x 1200 @ 120Hz with VRR
• I/O: 2 x Thunderbolt 4, microSD card reader, audio combo jack
• Center: MSI Center M 2.0
• Battery: 80Whr

Big the bigger deal here is the bigger battery: the original Claw shipped with a smaller 53Whr battery, but the new Lunar Lake-powered Claw 8 AI+ gaming handheld features a positively huge 80Whr battery which should provide huge battery life increases over the Claw 7, and even more from the power efficiency of the new Lunar Lake processor over the current Meteor Lake CPU inside of the Claw 7.