Earlier in April, we reported that we may see gaming handhelds powered by Intel’s Arc G3 Series and, more specifically, the Arc G3 Extreme GPU, make their debut at this year’s Computex 2026. Thanks to Australian retailer Scorptec, we don’t have to wait that long in anticipation to find out which console gets the pleasure of rocking the Panther Lake-powered processor: the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+.
According to the details posted on the retailer’s site (It’s already been taken down at the time of writing), the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ it will be selling is powered by the Intel Arc G3 Extreme, has 32GB LPDDR5X RAM, a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD, an 8-inch FHD+ 120Hz IPS touch display, support for Wi-Fi 7, an 80Wh battery, and runs on Windows 11.
Scorptec is also planning on selling the Claw 8 EX AI+ in two packs, a Standard variant and a Launch Pack. The difference between the two is that one comes with a Tempered Glass screen protector, Claw Grip caps, and a Travel Case III. The other doesn’t.
Mind you, the Panther Lake-powered Claw 8 EX AI+ isn’t going to be cheap either. Scorptec lists the starting price for the handheld as AU$2,749 (~RM10,901), while the Launch Pack will retail for AU$100 more at AU$2,849 (~RM11,297). That’s more expensive than even the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally X or Lenovo Legion Go 2, and the latter just received a price hike last month.
It honestly doesn’t surprise us that the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ would be one of the first handhelds to ship out with Intel’s Arc G3 Extreme GPU. The brand was the first and, technically speaking, only brand that had struck a deal with the blue chipmaker, launching the Claw 7, which was powered by Meteor Lake. The overall performance of that console was…lacklustre, to be polite about it, and sales for it were abysmal.
A year later, and with the arrival of Lunar Lake, MSI launched the Claw 8 AI+, powered by the Core Ultra 7 258V. This mobile processor showed significant improvement over its predecessor, but sadly, it was still no match for the performance of AMD’s own Ryzen Z1 Extreme and, at the time, as well, the Z2 Extreme. Soon after, MSI launched a variant of the Claw 8 powered by the latter APU from Team Red.
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