AI-rewritten: This is a summary of an article from Tom’s Hardware, rewritten by AI (Qwen, running locally) to make it easier to read. The facts come from the original article – read it for the full story.

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The original MSI Claw (A1M) was quickly forgotten after its launch as the first handheld gaming PC from MSI to feature an Intel CPU. Best Buy is currently selling this device on clearance for $562.99, making it the cheapest option available right now. This price point is lower than competitors like the ROG Xbox Ally, which starts at $600, and significantly less than models with 1TB of storage that cost over $1,000.

The A1M features a 7-inch 1080p display with a 120Hz refresh rate, 16GB of memory, and a 1TB SSD. Its build quality and layout are nearly identical to the original Asus ROG Ally, including a single USB-C port for charging and a microSD card slot. However, the device uses the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H chip from the Meteor Lake family, which was not originally designed for handheld gaming.

According to Jake Roach, Senior CPU Analyst at Tom’s Hardware, this chip draws relatively high power compared to modern PC handhelds. In games like Horizon Zero Dawn, the device achieves around 30 FPS with a 30W target, while Cyberpunk 2077 can reach 30 FPS with a full 40W power budget. Despite offering decent performance, the A1M falls short of the Z1 Extreme chip in both efficiency and battery life. Roach notes that while the software is less clear than on Asus devices, MSI has released numerous firmware updates since the launch.