MSI teases its first handheld gaming PC — and it may be powered by Intel (Update)

MSI has posted a teaser video for its first-ever handheld gaming PC on its Instagram account. It claims that "a whole new breed of MSI dragon is coming" and shows the placement of two joysticks, as well as ventilation and what appears to be an MSI logo on the back of the device. The video suggests more details about this handheld PC will be shared at CES next week. At the moment, we can really only guess what exactly this device looks like inside and out, though a tweet from Intel gives us an idea of what's inside.

The joysticks appears appear to be in a similar position to the Asus ROG Ally, which borrows the offset placement from Microsoft's Xbox controllers. We can see them in the video surrounded by RGB lighting in otherwise complete darkness.

Handheld gaming PCs will be new territory for MSI, though the company has been making gaming laptops for many years now. Expanding into new markets isn't anything unusual for MSI though, which has recently gotten into high-end SSDs and routers. Getting into handheld gaming would get the company on par with many of its rivals, who have already launched their own handheld PCs.

We can probably expect MSI's upcoming handheld to run Windows 11, which Microsoft has lately tweaked to be more palatable for handheld PCs. However, since Windows 11 still doesn't really work well on just a controller, it's almost certain that MSI will have custom software running on its handheld, a solution that Asus and Lenovo also had to rely on.

Later in the day, Intel responded to a version of the teaser MSI posted on X (formerly Twitter) with three thinking face emojis, suggesting that perhaps Intel's Meteor Lake will be powering this handheld.

Intel getting a deal with one of the biggest brands in PC gaming for a new form factor would be a big deal and would break AMD's multi-year long monopoly on handheld gaming PCs. On the other hand, testing indicates that Meteor Lake is quite a bit less efficient at lower power limits, which could be a deal-breaker for handheld gaming PCs, which tend to operate at lower power.

Other Windows-powered gaming handhelds from major OEMs went with AMD's Ryzen Z1 Extreme chip, which is the APU that powers Asus's ROG Ally and Lenovo's Legion Go. The Z1 Extreme is based on AMD's Phoenix chip, and it's more or less identical to the Ryzen 7 7840U. The fastest handheld gaming PCs today use either the Z1 Extreme or the 7840U, both of which are a fair bit faster than the Van Gogh APU found inside the Steam Deck.

Some smaller brands are moving up to AMD's. Hawk Point 8040 series APUs, though this wouldn't be substantially different than using a Phoenix-based chip. Hawk Point only boasts a higher clock speed on its NPU, which won't really impact gaming performance. Despite that, GPD is switching its handhelds to the Ryzen 7 8840U, presumably because it's an easy swap with the 7840U. Though, should MSI want a newer version of the Z1 Extreme based on Hawk Point, it's not clear if one will even come out since the Z1 Extreme notably has its NPU disabled.

It's unclear from this video what MSI might do to differentiate its offering from other handhelds outside of the possible choice of an Intel chip. The Lenovo Legion Go, for instance, had detachable controllers and a larger, higher resolution display than competitors. We'll have to wait until CES 2024 to learn more.

Update Jan. 4 at 4:35 p.m. ET with Intel's tweets.