Asus ROG Ally X vs. MSI Claw: Which is right for you?

• Best Windows gaming handheld

  Asus ROG Ally X

  The upgraded Ally X sports a fresh new design, more RAM, more storage, a much bigger battery, and improved joysticks alongside the same impressive Ryzen Z1 Extreme chip and 120Hz 1080p display. Plus, you get an overhauled cooling system, too, making this an excellent portable.

  Pros

  • Refreshed design
  • Huge battery
  • New cooling system

• 

  Cheaper alternative

  MSI Claw

  $530 $650 Save $120

  MSI’s Claw handheld sports Intel Core Ultra chips, as opposed to the familiar suite of Ryzen processors you tend to see in these machines, making it a unique offering in the handheld gaming space. Plus, this device has a relatively affordable purchase price.

  Pros

  • Intel Core Ultra chips
  • Up to 1 TB of storage
  • Sleek design

  Cons

  • Not the greatest graphical performance

When you want to play games on the go, a gaming laptop (or even a top-tier tablet) is a natural choice, but gaming handhelds are getting increasingly popular. Asus’ updated ROG Ally X is bringing some key upgrades to the table, while MSI’s Claw is an interesting Intel-powered machine. To help you decide between the two, we’ve put together the ultimate Asus ROG Ally X and MSI Claw comparison.

Price, availability, and specs

Similar handhelds, similar prices

Asus’ ROG Ally X started shipping in July. It’ll run you $800, and there’s only one model to choose from. With this new release, you will get the Ryzen Z1 Extreme chip as opposed to the original base Ally’s weaker processor. You will also get more storage than the original Ally.

MSI’s Claw is currently available at your retailer of choice, and it starts at $650. You’ve got some model options, though, that will determine whether you get a 135H or 155H chip alongside either 512GB or 1TB of storage. In the here and now, it’s also not tough to find a Claw on sale.

• 	Asus ROG Ally X	MSI Claw
  Dimensions	11.02 x 4.37 x 1.45 inches (280mm x 111mm x 36.9mm)	11.57 x 4.61 x 0.83 inches
  Weight	1.49 pounds (678 grams)	1.49 lbs
  Chipset	AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme Processor (8 cores/16 threads, up to 5.10 GHz boost)	Intel Core Ultra 5-135H or Core Ultra 7-155H
  RAM	24GB LPDDR5 7500 MHz	16GB 6400MHz LPDDR5
  Storage	1 TB M.2 2280 NVMe PCIe G4x4 SSD	Up to 2TB Gen 4 NVMe SSD
  Wireless Connectivity	Wi-Fi 6E & Bluetooth 5.2	Killer Wi-Fi 7 BE1750, Bluetooth 5.4
  Display	7-inch 1920×1080 IPS touchscreen, 120 Hz, AMD FreeSync Premium	7-inch FHD (1920×1080) 120Hz 100% sRGB IPS Touch Screen
  Graphics	AMD RDNA 3 Radeon Graphics	Intel Arc Graphics 8 Xᵉ-Cores
  Ports	1x USB-C (with DisplayPort 1.4), 1x USB4, 3.5mm audio combo jack, microSD card reader	1 USB-C/Thunderbolt 4, 1 SD card reader, 1 3.5mm audio jack
  Battery	80Wh	6 cell (53Whr) Li-Ion

Design and display

7-inch 1080p displays

In general, the design of these handhelds is quite similar. You’re looking at controllers on either side of a 7-inch display, with a familiar set of face buttons, joysticks, and D-pads. Button placement is also pretty much a match between the two, making these machines feel quite similar.

Both of these computers are on the larger end for gaming handhelds, which is good news if you’ve got larger hands and are looking for some extra room. Both are quite similar to one another in size, and come in at about the same weight, too, so there isn’t much to differentiate between the two.

With display, again, it’s a similar story for both. Either way, you’re looking at 7-inch 120Hz IPS 1080p panels. Not the highest-resolution we’ve seen on a portable, but 1080p is actually fine for a smaller screen, so you probably won’t feel like you’re missing out on much.

These handhelds are quite competitive with one another in terms of design and display. You may prefer the triggers on the Ally, while some might prefer the grip on the Claw, so this category is a draw.

Winner: Tie

Hardware and performance

Intel vs. AMD

The big difference here is in the chips that power these handhelds. It’s definitely worth keeping in mind that the Ally has 24GB of RAM vs the Claw’s 16GB; also, the memory on the Ally is clocked slightly faster than the memory on the Claw. Though, the Claw can go up to 2TB of storage while the Ally X maxes out at 1TB, which is an upgrade over the original Ally’s 512GB but not as spacious as the Claw.

With the Ally, you’re getting the Ryzen Z1 Extreme, and the Claw has up to an Intel Core Ultra 155H. The Claw has more cores and threads in its CPU, so you could expect a boost in multithreaded processing power. But the Ally has more GPU cores, which is often a bigger factor when gaming. Some games, like strategy games, may perform a bit better on the Claw, but in general, the Ally is likely to have the edge in performance.

When you couple a better chip with more RAM, you’re getting more FPS in games on the Ally. That said, this doesn’t mean you should expect poor performance on the Claw, nor is its 155H chip a bad performer. You won’t have trouble running most games on the Claw, even if you won’t be getting 120FPS on new AAA releases with it.

Nonetheless, the winner here is the Ally. With the Ally X’s redesigned cooling system, increase to 24GB of RAM, and up to 1TB of storage, alongside its impressive Ryzen Z1 Extreme chip, there aren’t many portables out there that can outperform it.

Winner: Asus ROG Ally X

Battery life

Big battery means big winner

A bigger battery means a longer battery life, which is where the Ally really pulls ahead.

Inside the Ally X, you’ll find an impressively large 80Whr battery that’s double the capacity of the original Ally. On the other hand, the Claw has a 53Whr battery, which is certainly significantly less. We’d wager you can expect closer to six hours, on average, of battery life on the Ally; on the other hand, the Claw is expected to tap out after a few hours, which is the norm for most handheld gaming machines.

That said, with the much larger battery, the Ally takes the win here.

Winner: Asus ROG Ally X

Overall winner: Asus ROG Ally X

Tough to beat the best version of a great machine

Overall, with an impressive Ryzen chip, lots of RAM, and a huge battery, the Ally X is our top choice. That doesn’t mean there aren’t reasons to consider picking up a Claw instead, especially if you want to save a bit of cash over the Ally’s $800 price point.

Not only does the Claw start at $150 cheaper (and is often on sale), but if you play games that scale well with many cores and threads (less reliant on GPU power), you may be better served by the Claw. Plus, most folks won’t need a full 24GB of memory for games anyway.

Winner

Asus ROG Ally X

The upgraded Ally X sports a fresh new design, more RAM, more storage, a much bigger battery, and improved joysticks alongside the same impressive Ryzen Z1 Extreme chip and 120Hz 1080p display. Plus, you get an overhauled cooling system, too, making this an excellent portable.

Runner-up

MSI Claw

$530 $650 Save $120

MSI’s Claw handheld sports Intel Core Ultra chips, as opposed to the familiar suite of Ryzen processors you tend to see in these machines, making it a unique offering in the handheld gaming space. Plus, this device has a relatively affordable purchase price.