I can barely contain my Christmas Day jubilation as the MSI Claw's US release date is finally set. This is the most exciting gaming handheld PC since the Steam Deck OLED. We think this Windows 11-powered device has the potential to be something truly special.

Whether the MSI Claw can match the breakout sales of the original LCD Steam Deck is another matter, but it won't take long for US gamers to decide whether they want to be Team Deck or Team Claw (if their wallets are fat enough, they can get both handhelds ).

The handheld will be available in the U.S. on March 8 (thanks, VideoCardz), although at the time of this writing, the official MSI Claw website does not appear to be open for U.S. pre-orders. The Claw will first come in three configurations (all with Intel Meteor Lake chips), but the least expensive one will not be available in the US until March 15.

The first model, with an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor and 512GB of storage, will cost $749. This is considerably more expensive than the Steam Deck OLED, which will be available at the aggressive price of $549. 1TB version will be available on March 15 for $799. All three versions of Claw have the same 7-inch 1080p LCD display.

For the UK launch, the MSI Claw is available for pre-order starting at £699 at Currys and will be available in the UK on March 20. UK gamers can choose the Intel Core Ultra 5 version with 512GB of storage for £699 and the Ultra 7 1TB model for £799.

Valve's sensational system (especially the upgraded OLED model) is considered by Tom's Guide to be the best gaming handheld for PC gamers. However, in my computing buddy Tony Polanco's MSI Claw hands-on review, he praises the latest pocket-friendly PC to hit the market. At 11.5 x 4.6 x 0.8 inches, though, it would take pants worthy of the now-deceased WWE great Doink the Clown to fit in your pocket.

One of the reasons Tony likes the MSI Claw so much is its screen. Games look amazing on its sharp 1080p display, and the panel's 120Hz refresh rate certainly helps. Incidentally, the Steam Deck OLED has a maximum refresh rate of 90 Hz, the original Deck at 60 Hz, and both Valve models are essentially 16:10 versions of 720p, with actual pixel count at 1200 x 800.

The $699 Lenovo Legion Go boasts an even more impressive 144 Hz refresh rate than the Claw and a screen resolution of 2,560 x 1,600. Obviously, though, such a fast refresh rate is not enough to achieve 2K resolution in a demanding game like "Cyberpunk 2077. That said, we currently rate the Legion Go as the best Windows handheld, and it will be the first machine MSI should pass up when we bring you our final review of the MSI Claw in the coming weeks. [This is because the chipset uses the same Intel XeSS technology as the company's Arc GPUs; what this means for the MSI Claw is that it can take advantage of Intel's image upsampling, which is comparable to AMD FSR and the still class-leading Nvidia DLSS, so games is run at a lower resolution, Claw uses machine learning to upscale the resolution on the screen. The main benefit of this is an increase in the game's frame rate; when playing Assassin's Creed Mirage on an MSI handheld, Tony could not see the frame rate counter, but the result "ran smooth as butter."

Personally, I like the Steam Deck OLED too much to replace it as my main gaming handheld at the moment, but I can play Xbox Game Pass titles on a very promising Windows 11 device, I'm at least semi-attracted to the MSI Claw.