Tag: Notebookcheck

  • MSI Claw 8 AI+ price rivals RTX 5060 gaming laptop

    MSI Claw 8 AI+ price rivals RTX 5060 gaming laptop

    Key Takeaway

    – MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ priced at $1,799
    – Cheaper to buy a Gigabyte Aero X16 laptop + Asus ROG Ally handheld for $1,930
    – RTX 5060 laptop with 32GB RAM is $1,249.99 at Best Buy
    – Asus ROG Ally handheld available for $679.99 on Amazon
    – High price makes the Claw 8 EX AI+ a tough sell against laptop-plus-handheld combo

    When Intel first started showing what the Arc G3 Extreme SoC was capable of, the company warned that the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ handheld console using the SoC would not be cheap. We expressed the same fear in our hands-on video of the console, which is linked at the end. MSI has now officially revealed the price, and the Claw 8 EX AI+ is scary expensive.

    A Price Comparison That Hurts

    In fact, the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ is so expensive that you can currently buy an RTX 5060 gaming laptop with 32 GB of DDR5 memory and a QHD display alongside a handheld gaming console for the price of one Claw 8 EX AI+.

    The laptop we are talking about is the Gigabyte Aero X16 with a Ryzen AI 7 350, an RTX 5060 laptop GPU, 32 GB of RAM, and a 1 TB SSD, which has now dropped by $150 to $1,249.99 at Best Buy. We gave the Gigabyte Aero X16 a “good” rating of 84% in our review due to its sturdy chassis, pleasing display, expandable RAM, and more.

    Don’t Forget the Handheld

    Moving the discussion to the handheld we mentioned above, you can get the Asus ROG Xbox Ally with a Ryzen Z2 A APU, 16 GB of RAM, and 512 GB of storage for $679.99 on Amazon.

    So, buying the Gigabyte Aero X16 and the Asus ROG Xbox Ally will cost you a combined $1,930. This is only $130 more than the price of the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+.

    Is The Arc G3 Extreme Worth It?

    So, even if you were intrigued by the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+, the handheld looks like a tough sell at $1,799. If one can get a decent gaming laptop and a portable console to play lighter AAA games on the go, all for the price of one MSI Claw 8 EX AI+, is the better performance of the Arc G3 Extreme enough to swoon gamers?

    We are not sure many gamers would see the appeal of the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+. Yes, there exists a subset of users who can shell out $1,799 for the Claw 8 EX AI+ based on the handheld’s performance. But for the Intel Arc G3 and Arc G3 Extreme to loosen AMD’s chokehold on the Windows handheld gaming console space, Intel and OEMs need to do better. Only a healthy selection of powerful yet affordable handheld consoles will make the kind of difference that Intel is hoping for.

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  • Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 7 vs Gen 6: Design Photo Comparison

    Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 7 vs Gen 6: Design Photo Comparison

    Key Takeaway

    – Lenovo uses “Clean sheet” redesigns, not just iterative updates.
    – New T14 Gen 7 has a redesigned lid with a wide bar hinge and smaller bezels.
    – Rounded screen corners are now standard on the T series.
    – The base features a new centered keyboard font and smaller speaker/ventilation holes.
    – Key debate: New rounded, centered design vs. old angular, standard-keyprint style.

    ThinkPad Design Evolution

    If you ask some people, ThinkPads do not really have a design – they are just black boxes, would the naysayers tell you. However, Lenovo would probably disagree, as the evidently invest a lot of money into refining the design of their legendary business laptop line every few years. Lenovo even has a special term for “redesign”: They call it “clean sheet”, a name which comes from the fact that the new design starts with a clean sheet of paper and is not simply an update of a previous model.

    Redesigning the Classic

    Such a case is the Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 7 which we recently reviewed. This model brings a completely new design, after the previous ThinkPad T14 Gen 5 and ThinkPad T14 Gen 6 both shared the same design language. The T14 G7 changes things up in a lot of ways, and we was able to directly compare it with the older T14 Gen 6.

    Chassis and Display Changes

    The changes are numerous: For one, Lenovo has redesigned the entire display lid area, with a new wide bar hinge, slightly smaller screen bezels (1 mm less on the sides) and a flat display cover – the one of the T14 Gen 6 had a slight bulge. These changes will not be controversial, but one change will be for sure: Rounded screen covers have become the new standard on the Lenovo ThinkPad T series.

    Base and Keyboard Updates

    As for the base, the new ThinkPad T14 Gen 7 is around 1 mm thicker, but it keeps the same chamfered design for the base, so it does not really look thicker. The holes of the speakers are a bit smaller than before, and there are less ventilation holes on the base. Of course, the big visual change here is the adoption of a new, centered keyboard font. This is a significant departure from the old ISO standard key printing style.

    • New design with flat display cover and wide bar hinge
    • Rounded screen corners as new standard
    • Base is 1 mm thicker but looks similar
    • Smaller speaker holes and fewer ventilation holes
    • New centered keyboard font adopted

    Which One To Choose?

    Which one do you prefer: The new ThinkPad with rounded corners and centered key printing, or the old ThinkPad, with normal corners and the old ISO standard key printing style? This is a personel choice that many users are debating right now.

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    • Steam free game library expands with new additions

      Steam free game library expands with new additions

      Key Takeaway

      – Noteworthy freebies with solid player reception: a few free games released in mid-late April 2026 (and some in May 2026) have gathered positive ratings.
      – Mixed quality among the newly spotted titles: many entries have low player ratings or limited engagement.
      – Disclaimer note: price/deal references are time-sensitive and may change, with availability subject to retailer constraints.

      Steam has expanded its free game library once again, and this time, a bunch of free games that were released between mid to late April 2026 have been spotted. A couple from May 2026 has been discovered as well. The scene feels a bit chaotic, yet there’s a certain charm in seeing developers push for free access to their titles, even if some are rough around the edges and others shine a bit brighter than the rest. The overall vibe is that players can sample new ideas without paying, and that freedom to try is what keeps this platform buzzing in springtime.

      Varied catalog and mixed reception

      Like the last rounds, not all the newly spotted Steam free games seem worth playing. Many of them don’t have decent player ratings, but there are a handful of freebies that have already been received well by players, such as some quirky platformers, experimental multiplayer bouts, and indie charmers that lean into distinctive aesthetics. The sentiment is split, yet a few entries stand out for delivering surprisingly solid times, mechanics, or mood that resonates with fans of the genre. The key takeaway remains: you will encounter a spectrum of quality, but a few gems do emerge from the noise.

      Pricing caveats and player feedback

      Disclaimer: Notebookcheck is not responsible for price changes carried out by retailers. The discounted price or deal mentioned in this item was available at the time of writing and may be subject to time restrictions and/or limited unit availability. This note is clearly a relic of the period when promotions were more volatile, and it reminds readers to verify current details directly on Steam before jumping into any free-to-play experiment. In practice, player reviews continue to shape the perceived value of these titles as more folks try them out over time.

       


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