Steam Deck may have its work cut out for it soon, as pre-orders for the upcoming Claw device from MSI are being taken. We also have a release date, with one of the models launching on March 8 in the US, followed by the other two variants a week later.
As reported by Videocardz, the Claw is up on sites like Newegg, with options to place a pre-order ready for launch day. There are three variations planned, and it looks like the mid-range device releases first, priced at $749. Which is not cheap, really.
For that price, you’ll get a Windows-based handheld gaming PC with an Intel Core Ultra 7-155H CPU under the hood and 512GB of NVMe SSD storage.
And many more initialisms
There is a cheaper model in the Intel Core Ultra 5-135H variant, which also comes with 512GB capacity. This is currently priced at $699 on Newegg and with a March 15 release date.
The same goes for the more expensive Claw, which will set you back $799. That benefits from the same processor as the mid-range model but does have 1TB of SSD storage.
On top of this, MSI recently announced that the Claw also comes with seven days of Ubisoft+ for free. Whether that’s going to justify the cost is dependent on how often you’re likely to use Ubisoft’s service, I suppose. Also, the fact that the above tweet says the offer available is from February 15 is a bit odd seeing as the device isn’t even out yet. Not sure if that’s a typo or not.
In any case, we’re seeing quite the flood of Steam Deck competitors hit the market lately. We’ve already had offerings from ASUS and Lenovo, but it feels as though Valve’s mobile PC is still a lot of people’s first choice for now.
