MSI Claw 8 EX AI Plus review shows Intel’s Arc G3 can seriously challenge AMD handhelds

MSI’s Claw 8 EX AI Plus is one of the first gaming handhelds built around Intel’s new Arc G3 Extreme chip, and the review results show a major step forward for Intel in this category. The handheld is priced at $1,699.99, which places it firmly in the premium segment, but its performance and efficiency make it one of the more important handheld PCs released this year.

Intel’s Arc G3 series is not simply a repurposed laptop chip. It is designed for handheld gaming systems, with a focus on better performance at lower power levels, longer playtime, and support for modern features such as XeSS 3. The tested MSI unit uses the top end Arc G3 Extreme, which is based on Panther Lake technology and tuned for compact gaming devices.

Intel’s Arc G3 Extreme gives the Claw 8 EX AI Plus a strong graphics advantage

The Arc G3 Extreme combines 14 CPU cores with Intel’s Xe3 based Arc B390 integrated graphics. The CPU layout includes 2 performance cores and 12 efficiency focused cores, while the GPU has 12 Xe cores running up to 2.30 GHz. The chip also supports newer ray tracing hardware, AI features, and XeSS Multi Frame Generation, which gives it a more complete gaming feature set than older Intel integrated graphics.

The rest of the handheld is also built like a high end device. It includes 32GB of LPDDR5X memory at 8533 MT per second, a 1TB PCIe Gen4 SSD, an 8 inch 1920 by 1200 IPS display with a 120Hz refresh rate, WiFi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, and an 80Wh battery. It also has Thunderbolt 4 ports, Hall Effect sticks and triggers, front facing speakers, and MSI’s Hyperflow cooling system with two fans and dual heatpipes.

The strongest part of the review is gaming performance. In Cyberpunk 2077 at 1200p Medium with Balanced upscaling, the MSI Claw reached 81.85 FPS at 30W, while the OneXPlayer X1 Pro with Radeon 890M reached 46.75 FPS at the same power level. With frame generation, the MSI handheld climbed to 119.36 FPS.

F1 24 also showed a clear lead, with the Claw reaching 88 FPS without frame generation and 141 FPS with frame generation at 30W. Forza Horizon 6 ran at 66 FPS at 1080p High with Balanced upscaling, while Forza Horizon 5 reached 89 FPS at 1200p Medium.

Battery life is another strong point. The review measured 290 minutes of gaming at 30W and 373 minutes at 15W. That means the handheld can offer several hours of real gaming time, especially when tuned for lower power use. Temperatures were generally stable in games, sitting around the mid 70s, although synthetic workloads pushed the device much higher.

The biggest weakness is the screen choice. A 120Hz IPS panel with 500 nits brightness is good, but at this price, an OLED panel would have made the package feel more complete. The fans can also become noticeable during longer gaming sessions, though the grips stay comfortable because the heat is pushed away from the main contact points.

The MSI Claw 8 EX AI Plus is expensive, but it shows that Intel is no longer behind in handheld gaming chips. Arc G3 Extreme delivers strong frame rates, good efficiency, modern graphics features, and battery life that can make portable PC gaming more practical. For buyers who want one of the fastest Windows handhelds available right now, this is a serious option, even if the price and lack of OLED make it harder to recommend to everyone.