The reason MSI’s Claw is getting worldwide attention is its ability to tell us whether the Intel Meteor Lake SKU is “worthy enough” in the portable segment. Although it has not yet hit the global market, it appears that several Chinese reviewers have purchased devices of this model and compared them with existing competitors in the market to let potential consumers know if it is worth it.
Before we get into the reviews, let’s take a quick look at the MSI Claw. It comes in two different variants: Intel Core Ultra 7 155H and Core Ultra 5 135H, and both SKUs have slight differences in performance. Reviewers tested the portable in a variety of gaming scenarios, showcasing the performance of both options and comparing it to the ASUS ROG Ally portable. The results obtained are quite interesting and they have also been tested at various TDP levels.
In testing, the reviewer put the handheld through Shadow of The Tomb Raider and, according to the game’s built-in benchmarks, the MSI Claw (Core Ultra 155H) lagged behind the ROG Ally at all power levels tested, with an average performance difference of 10-15 percent.
The same difference was observed in other games such as Cyberpunk 2077 and Red Dead Redemption 2. However, it is important to note that ASUS ROG Ally is in a more mature state in terms of driver support and other resources, while MSI Claw is yet to be released To the market. Therefore, we can expect the performance gap to narrow but remain there in the long run.
In addition, the reviewer compared the MSI Claw variants to each other, showing the difference in performance between the two different models. Since both models are equipped with an integrated Intel Meteor Lake SoC with different specifications such as the number of Xe cores and CPU cores, the difference in performance was noticeable, especially in demanding games, where the gap was more than 20%.
Although the results are interesting, it is worth remembering that they are not final, as the device may receive a significant performance boost by the time it officially launches. However, it is clear that ASUS’ ROG Ally with AMD Ryzen Z1 processors is still a very competitive device, and it will be interesting to see how the next generation of models will compete with Intel’s portable options based on Meteor Lake and future Core Ultra processors.