The best “Steam Deck killer” launched months ago, but you still can’t buy this Windows 11 handheld — are tariffs to blame for another fumbled competitor?

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I’ve been really enjoying the trend of handheld gaming PCs, especially since Valve released the Steam Deck. It made PC gaming much more convenient, letting people easily play games from Steam and other stores. I got one myself, and it’s become a big part of how I game almost every day. But lately, I’m noticing more and more Windows-based handhelds popping up, and they seem to be gaining popularity over the Steam Deck’s Linux system.

The ASUS ROG Ally initially looked like a strong contender to the Steam Deck, and the even more powerful ROG Ally X built on that promise. For months, the original Ally, with its AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor, felt like a genuine alternative. But everything changed when I started using the MSI Claw 8 AI+ – I immediately preferred it.

MSI made a bold move by choosing Intel processors for its handheld gaming devices, even though they had previously used AMD chips in successful products like the Steam Deck and Lenovo’s Legion Go. The original Claw used Intel’s Meteor Lake processors, and the newer Claw 8 AI+ features updated Lunar Lake chips. While the devices sound promising, a major problem is their limited availability – they’re frequently out of stock.

I’m consistently disappointed with the price of the MSI Claw 8 AI+. It’s frustrating that we haven’t seen any significant discounts, especially considering ASUS offered over $100 off the ROG Ally X. The situation is actually worse than expected – the Claw remains stubbornly expensive.

I’m checking Best Buy every week to make sure the MSI Claw 8 AI+ still costs $999.99. It’s consistently listed as “Sold Out” online, even though some customers have reported successfully buying one there and seem pleased with it.

Finding an MSI Claw 8 AI+ is proving difficult. While you might find it at Walmart or Amazon, it’s usually from third-party sellers at inflated prices, or it’s simply not available. Even directly from MSI, the website can only notify you when it’s back in stock, but can’t fulfill an order right now. Given these challenges, it’s hard to recommend purchasing one at the moment.

Occasionally, you might find another version of the Claw 8 AI+ available, and it might seem like my concerns are overblown. However, the “MSI Claw 8 AI+ A2VM Polar Tempest Edition” – it’s a long name! – is basically just a white version that costs more. It was meant to come with a 2TB storage option for more games, but currently, it’s only a $25 price increase to change the color from the original’s unique “Sandstorm” to white.

The ongoing issues with pricing and product availability keep leading back to tariffs, which have been a major concern in the tech world all year. We’ve already seen price increases – the MSI Claw 8 AI+ and Claw 7 AI+ both went up by $100 in April – and those prices haven’t gone back down. Simply raising prices doesn’t solve anything if there aren’t enough products to meet demand. Even if the Claw’s price were lowered again, there’s no assurance that it would actually be in stock.

Increasing prices is simple enough, but it won’t help unless we also address problems with how much of a product is available and how much people want it. Otherwise, it’s just not effective.

I find it really annoying when companies give vague, standard answers when I ask about changes or cuts in their hardware, and they avoid mentioning import/export taxes as the reason. It’s also tough to see gamers constantly facing inflated prices for gaming hardware, especially graphics cards. The MSI Claw 8 AI+ is definitely not an affordable gaming handheld.

However, the Claw 8 AI+ is the best Windows handheld gaming device I’ve ever tested. It effortlessly ran every game I threw at it – nothing in my Steam, GOG, or Epic Games Store library could slow it down. What’s even more impressive is that it did all this quietly, thanks to the efficiency of Intel’s new Lunar Lake processors.

It wasn’t perfect – there were some software bugs and minor problems – but those didn’t bother me enough to ruin the fun I had playing.

I could talk all day about how well MSI and Intel work together, but it doesn’t matter if people can’t actually buy the finished product. I was hoping the Lunar Lake devices would be successful, and some might have been, but it feels like the MSI Claw 8 AI+ fixed the problems of previous models for nothing. Now, I’m more excited about the AMD-powered ROG Ally X, even if it’s likely to be expensive too. It’s disappointing to see a competitor like MSI struggle, though.

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2025-09-15 20:41