The best "Steam Deck killer" launched months ago, but you still can't buy this Windows 11 handheld — are tariffs to blame for another fumbled competitor?

A new trend in PC gaming was popularized by Valve's excellent Steam Deck, a handheld option that brought console-style convenience to the masses who wanted to play titles locked to the platform, whether that's via Steam or any other storefront. I have my own, and it remains a huge part of my almost-daily gaming routine, but its Linux-based presentation is starting to be overshadowed by Windows-based alternatives.

First, the ASUS ROG Ally showed promising signs of supporting Microsoft's operating system in a package that could challenge Valve's leading handheld. It was even one-upped internally by its bigger brother, the highly praised ROG Ally X. However, the original, with its AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor, stuck with me for months as a viable Steam Deck alternative. That is, at least, until I got my hands on the MSI Claw 8 AI+ and fell in love with it.

MSI dared to pass on AMD's offerings as it already enjoyed total domination, its earlier chips appearing in the Steam Deck, and Ryzen Z1 variants appearing in Lenovo's 'Nintendo Switch-esque' Legion Go. Instead, the Claw would use Intel's mobile chips, starting with codenamed Meteor Lake processors in the previous generation Claw 7 A1M and refreshed with Lunar Lake versions in the Claw 8 AI+. It all sounds fantastic, but there's a glaring issue — you'll hardly ever find the thing in stock.

It's an axe I'll grind down to the handle, because it'll always frustrate me. The high-scoring MSI Claw 8 AI+ should have seen a few price-reducing deals by now, bringing it to a more realistic cost that resembles the post-$100 savings that ASUS has previously bestowed upon the ROG Ally X — but that's not the case — in fact, it's much worse than that.

Every week, I'll check on the MSI Claw 8 AI+ at Best Buy to see that its $999.99 price tag hasn't budged. Not only that, but the availability tracker sticks with an unmoving "Sold Out" message despite a handful of user reviews that suggest people have been lucky enough to bag one from this prominent retailer in the past, and they seem similarly happy with it.

Then again, if you pay over the odds, Walmart might hook you up for a Claw 8 AI+ at $1,249, but it's via a third-party seller, not the store itself. It's the same story at Amazon US; either it's stocked with an inflated price by a third-party seller, or it's completely invisible. Even a $999.99 listing at the official MSI US digital store can offer to notify you of restocks, but it can't sell you a Claw 8 AI+ today. At this point, it's a struggle to recommend it.

Now, sometimes you might see something in stock alongside the elusive Claw 8 AI+, and it might seem like my complaints are unnecessary when you see it. However, the "MSI Claw 8 AI+ A2VM Polar Tempest Edition" (yes, it's a mouthful) is little more than a white recolor with a higher price tag. It was supposed to launch with a 2TB variant for more game storage, but at least for now, it's just a $25 price hike to replace the unique "Sandstorm" shade of the original.

Price and availability problems keep coming back to the topic of tariffs, which has probably been the hottest topic in tech throughout 2025. We already saw the MSI Claw 8 AI+ and the Claw 7 AI+ increasing their price by $100 back in April this year, and neither has dropped back to their previous MSRP listings since. Raising the price is one thing, but if it isn't paired with any solutions for issues surrounding supply and demand, then what's the point? Even if the Claw returned to its previous price, there's no guarantee that any stock would follow.

It's mostly frustrating because I see a lot of generic, boilerplate responses from brands when inquiring about sudden component changes or reductions in their hardware categories, never wanting to point the blame directly at import/export tariffs. That, and I have to temper my expectations for modern-day gamers who are constantly mocked by gaming hardware that bloats its prices far above any intended MSRP, particularly with GPUs. The MSI Claw 8 AI+ is not a budget handheld gaming PC by any stretch of the imagination.

On the other hand, the Claw 8 AI+ is the best Windows handheld I've ever used. It ran everything; I couldn't find anything in my Steam library (or GOG, Epic Games Store, etc) that it wouldn't shred. That, and it did it all without raising the fan noise, an ode to Intel's success with Lunar Lake's much-professed efficiency bump for its mobile processors.

Sure, it had its downsides, mostly related to software gripes and other issues that could be fixed with patches, but none of them detracted from my gaming enjoyment.

I could spend all day praising MSI and Intel's partnership, but again, if you can't buy the thing, then who cares? I wanted to see Lunar Lake devices thrive, and some may have, but it still feels like the Claw 8 AI+ redeemed all of its predecessors' missteps for ultimately no reason. These days, I'm more eagerly awaiting the AMD-based ROG Xbox Ally X and its (presumably) similarly premium price point — which is fine, but it's still a shame to see a competitor fall off.