Sure thing, here’s my take on this piece:
—
So, you ever hit up Computex? Man, it’s wild—MSI trotted out its Claw A8 BZ2EM (catchy name, right?) handheld gamer, rocking an AMD chip this time. Kind of a big deal because, usually, MSI’s more of an Intel dance partner. So, what’s up with them cozying up to AMD now? Who can say?
Anyway, you know the Claw A8? It’s packing some real snazzy stuff. Like, get this—an AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme. (Sounds like a superhero, no?) Graphics are baked right in with that AMD Radeon thing. Display? They crammed an 8-inch 1920 x 1200 screen in there. And we’re talking 120 Hz with VRR. Fancy-schmancy, yes? But what grabbed me was the ram juice, a cool 24GB LPDDR5x-8000. Tho, they’ve zipped it over who gets what in which market. Oh well, surprise!
Oh, oh, the design! It’s Xbox-y with Hall Effect joysticks (bye-bye, stick drift?), plus sensors in triggers. Feels comfy with those chunky grips too—like a hand hug… if that’s a thing?
Battery’s hefty at 80 WHr, packing way more oomph than the slim original ROG Ally. Loads of ports on this bad boy: a headphone jack, microSD—yep—the works. Even got a future-proof-y SSD. Swap it out in five, thanks to that M.2 2280 action.
They also tweaked the MSI Center to chill with the Xbox Game Bar. Easier to navigate? Maybe. Yet, Windows 11 on a handheld? Ugh. Not the smoothest operator, let’s say.
Price and release? Your guess is as good as mine. Zip from MSI so far.
Moving over—MSI hit us with new Crosshairs and Cyborgs at Computex. Everyone loves a good upgrade, right? New RTX chips all around, whether you’re team 5060 or 5070. The Crosshair 18 comes in Intel flavor (Crosshair 18 HX AI) and AMD (Crosshair A18HX). Confusing much? Welcome to my life.
Oh yeah, these machines almost share everything. Those 90 WHr batteries? GPUs at “and below”? Am I the only one scratching my head over that?
Pricing’s a mixed bag too, but listen up: the Crosshair 18HX AI starts at $1,699 (Costco, anyone?). Boost your RAM to 64GB for $2,049, but MSI’s playing hard to get with full specs. RAM speeds might differ, they say. And, hello, new crosshair logos and RGB keyboards!
Last up, the Cyborgs! Translucent edges, metal lids, and a whole smorgasbord of chip combos. Like, pick your poison kind of situation: Intel 200H or Ryzen? They got you covered with screens from 1080p at 144 Hz to 1440p at 240 Hz. Again, partial pricing, mystery launch dates. You know how it goes.
Before I scoot, there’s more stuff: The Stealth A16 AI+, Prestige laptops! AMG Motorsport cozies up with MSI. Oh, and a Prestige 13 AI+ spinoff with some artsy touch—a nice nod to “The Great Wave off Kanagawa”. They’re saying it’s a one-off creation by actual artists. Artsy, right?
And that’s all she wrote. Or I wrote. Whatever.
