Computex 2025 is now underway with companies and manufacturers to show the next desktop and portable PC hardware, and MSI has just established the tone for the rest of the largest technological event.
After numerous rumors about a new potential portable computer of AMD, MSI has officially announced the new MSI Claw A8 Bz2em PC for hand games. As is speculated, it will use the latest Ryzen Z2 Extreme APU of AMD, since MSI moves away from the Intel Core 7 258V of Intel used in the Claw 8 AI+.
It is certainly a big surprise despite the previous leaks, and there are some key conclusions to make, from its new design to its potential performance capabilities. Here is everything you should expect with the Claw A8 Handheld Gaming PC.
1. will be driven by Ryzen Z2 Extreme Apu de AMD
While the last portable AMD processor, the Ryzen Z2 Extreme, has been included in the prototype version of Lenovo Legion Go 2 (and supposedly the rumored Xbox Handheld), the new MSI Claw A8 will join him to do it, and can even launch it.
However, the highlight is that it is expected that the Ryzen Z2 Extreme is the most powerful Handheld Z2 chip in Team Red, and an Ryzen Z1 Extreme Original update (used in the Allied Asus Rog and Lenovo Legion Go). It has 8 CPU nuclei and 16 GPU nuclei, a considerable leap of the 12 previous GPU nuclei in the Z1 Extreme.
We have not seen any PC for portable games officially use the Ryzen Z2 Extreme, in addition to the legion go prototype, and its specifications suggest that it will compete against the Ultra 7 258V Intel Core used in the MSI Claw 8 AI+, so it will be exciting to see which device (between Claza 8 AI+ and the Claw A8) comes out in the upper part.
2. The A8 claw can be a slightly cheaper alternative to the new Claw 8 AI+ Polar Tempest Edition
Since prices are not yet announced, there is no clarity about the price of the new MSI Claw A8. However, it can be the slightly cheaper alternative to the new Edition Tempest Polar Claw 8 AI+ Polar; He is using Wi-Fi 6e with Bluetooth 5.3 instead of Intel Wi-Fi 7 with Bluetooth 5.4 (which makes sense since there is no intel chip here).
It will also have a RAM LPDDR5 support up to 24 GB, instead of the 32GB RAM of Claw 8 AI+, which means there may be two different configurations of the A8 claw to choose from.
We should have more clarity about the price during Computex 2025, but the price difference can mainly arise from the performance of the Ryzen Z2 Extreme versus the Core Ultra 7 258v.
3. It has a new design for the comfort of the hand and a new green scheme
As you can see in the images, it seems that the MSI Claw A8 will have a different design to provide more comfort by hand. The handles seem to be curved inward, which looks very similar to that of Asus Rog Ally, and this could contribute greatly to provide additional comfort for those long hours of play.
I am glad to see that MSI has maintained the FHD+ (1920 x 1200 1920 x 1200) 8 -inch screen with the A8 claw, since it is the ideal amount of screen space to get the best of portable games. It will also be interesting to see how the Ryzen Z2 Extreme processor addresses the resolution and see how he goes against the processor of his counterpart.
Until now, it seems that we will have the same white scheme as the snow of the Tempest of Polar Tempest 8 AI+ in the A8 claw, along with a completely new green color to choose from. There is currently no confirmation on a launch date, price or availability, but you can expect to see more details during Computex 2025.
