19-05-2025
MSI Claw A8 packs an AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme — the rumors were true
Recently, rumors began to circulate that MSI was releasing another handheld gaming PC with an AMD chip under the hood. It turns out that those rumors were totally true, as the company has unveiled a new 8-inch handheld with the full name MSI Claw A8 BZ2EM.
The new gaming handheld features a powerful AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme processor, an AMD Radeon 890M and as much as 24GB of RAM. This release comes about six months after the Intel-based version of the company's gaming handhelds hit the market.
Sure, it's the mobile versions of those chips, but that still makes the MSI Claw A8 BZ2EM a viable Steam Deck alternative that's worth keeping an eye on coming out of Computex 2025.
Other notable specs include an 8-inch display with a 1080p resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, VRR and up to 500 nits brightness. There's an M.2 2280 SSD in various sizes available for fast loading times.
Processor
AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme
GPU
AMD Radeon 890M
RAM
Up to 24GB
Display
8", 1080p, 120Hz, VRR
Storage
1x M.2 2280 (PCIe 4.0 x4) and 1x microSD card reader
Battery
80Wh
Operating System
Windows 11 Home
Wireless connectivity
299.5 x 126.2 x 24mm (11.79 x 4.97 x 0.94)
Weight
765g
The 80Wh battery is another standout feature. The original Steam Deck featured a 40Wh battery, and the Steam Deck OLED has a 50Wh cell. This should provide much more juice to keep MSI's large handheld running. Of course, we'll need to test it to see how good the battery life is, but it sounds promising.
Unfortunately, while a bunch of information about the new MSI Steam Deck competitor was announced, the pricing and availability were not.
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