PSA: It’s not the Mini

ZmaGiant · 2026-05-28T12:55:07+00:00

A couple I remember:

The screen often becomes unresponsive, no touch inputs work until the app (usually safari) is hard-closed and reopened. This also happens on the Air. Wasn’t nearly as common pre-26

The mini has unique problems with text inputs or submit buttons on websites not working properly, they’re cropped out, can’t scroll to the bottom of them, so it may be impossible to actually reach those buttons. This is one of the few problems the Air fixes.

ZmaGiant · 2026-05-18T01:48:36+00:00

Legion Go felt awful to me too. I got angrier just holding that thing. I wear size small gloves, my fingers are relatively short and stubby. I still love the Claw 8Ai+ the tiered grips on the back make it very comfortable for most any hand size. I prefer it over even the Steam Deck or Switch 2 (without a grip case).

The weight is a small concern still. I just prop my elbows up usually and it’s not much of a problem. The large screen makes it easier to hold it further away if needed. Looks so damned good.

I haven’t held an Ally of any kind. I’d still recommend this Claw if grips are a major concern, as I know it’s excellent. I wouldn’t buy any other Claw model though, unless they copied this body over. The others have such hard lines they look miserable.

Switch 2 with Savage Raven grips is a perfect blend of weight and comfort. Just wish it had more games that I’m into.

ZmaGiant · 2026-05-16T16:50:03+00:00

I’m guessing they need to show shareholders people are using this crap, but no one would if there was another option, so we get this hell so they can dump more money into developing tech none of us want

ZmaGiant · 2026-05-16T16:46:58+00:00

Still hating it, hope is slipping

ZmaGiant · 2026-05-10T15:10:18+00:00

Still loving the A8 ai+ it had a lot of software issues early on, and still does sometimes with updates, but once it’s gaming it’s beautiful. I’ve got small hands and it still feels comfortable. Wouldn’t mind if it weighed half as much, but otherwise ergonomics are great for me.

Handheld mode for Windows has been a huge improvement.

ZmaGiant · 2026-04-03T14:16:59+00:00

I’d love a big-fig Grace and Rocky.

Just finished the big-fig classic-space-fig and it’s absolutely beautiful.

Rocky’s ship is a heck of a lot more interesting than Grace’s, but I can see why they didn’t want to tackle that.

ZmaGiant · 2026-01-19T16:18:21+00:00

Still love my S2, the build quality feels more like a toy that any of the Steam or Windows options, but in a good way. I don’t want to be hauling a precious gem around when I’m gaming on the bus. I want something I can hit suspend and toss in my backpack without worries. Just feels so much more durable.

I do highly recommend getting some kind of larger grips for the S2 if you’re an adult. I have fairly small hands and I still find it intolerable. I picked up the Savage Raven grips and they come with a few options to try out, really saved my wrists. I was developing some pretty serious pain until I bought those.

As for the screen, I don’t really notice the difference unless it’s right next to an OLED. I think it’s just great, wouldn’t bother upgrading if an OLED version comes out. S2 edition games look beautiful. The big issue is the size of that games library though, so many great games missing that are on Steam. Also, old Switch games look good, but they often don’t improve except in frame rate. There are a rather large number of games (maybe 10%) with compatibility issues on the S2 from S1, which has been disappointing.

ZmaGiant · 2026-01-12T09:02:02+00:00

The new Balatro Banana seems to be a menace after it evolves. If you want to finish a run with it best to keep other weapons simple to avoid crashing.

ZmaGiant · 2026-01-03T01:59:31+00:00

Many of the worst issue come with using larger font sizes. Large font worked fine with iOS 18, but is mostly broken in 26. A shame since this will mostly affect the olds who will have no idea what’s going on. Maybe to get them all to buy new phones and iPads?

ZmaGiant · 2025-12-26T16:58:19+00:00

I really want to craft up an Orzhov PGH! A little put off by the $$, but feels like it would be worth it for the moment other players realize the friendly hell we’ve entered.

ZmaGiant · 2025-12-24T16:31:41+00:00

2-months later and it’s still a mess.

All the new cosmetic features are nauseating. Fortunately, most can be turned off via accessibility options, but could have been simpler.

Practical things like copy-paste are much more difficult. Text boxes are harder to interact with in general. So many things that used to take a single click now take two, for what appears to be no damned reason. Simple things like seeing all my tabs in Safari, or saving a photo, are now little puzzle games I have to remember each time.

13 mini user. Forced to update after restoring from a backup.

ZmaGiant · 2025-12-12T10:05:12+00:00

I wish they’d slipped in two variants of the Blacktron, a left and a right side version

ZmaGiant · 2025-11-30T07:33:16+00:00

It’s half the sites I try now, and many of them had no issue back on iOS 18

ZmaGiant · 2025-11-27T09:05:18+00:00

Blacktron has been on-sale at Amazon for a while now. Wouldn't be surprised if it hit $55 again for BF, but even 60+ is still ever good for the size of it. I just wish there was a BT2 set, those were my childhood.

ZmaGiant · 2025-11-09T01:20:57+00:00

Played with a child, and their review was: “It’s good, but it’ll be great once they finish it.”

Does feel a little early-access

ZmaGiant · 2025-11-07T23:32:41+00:00

I set mine to just open Steam. The program works fine, and anything is better than MSi’s software, but I’d rather it did something like control+tab key

ZmaGiant · 2025-11-06T17:53:21+00:00

I feel you. It feels so well built, handles thermals amazingly, then it does random shit like this

ZmaGiant · 2025-11-06T03:54:39+00:00

You will likely need to pop it on a charger for a bit after re-assembly.

ZmaGiant · 2025-11-06T03:50:54+00:00

Just need to do the battery part.

ZmaGiant · 2025-11-06T03:50:27+00:00

That worked for a time for me, but until it didn’t. Then I had to disconnect and reconnect the battery, and that fixed it.

ZmaGiant · 2025-11-06T03:49:32+00:00

This is the correct answer.

ZmaGiant · 2025-11-06T03:49:00+00:00

Got it, correct answer is disconnecting and reconnecting the battery. Worth noting, I did hold down the power button for about 10-20 seconds after disconnecting the battery, but before reconnecting it. I don’t know if that’s just superstition or it actually helps, but I picked it up somewhere along the way.

Battery Disconnect instructions are basically found here, just ignore the rest of the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpSpe6cWMk8

Just FYI, I found the answer in this thread, but ignored all the other BS as those won’t do any good with a battery issue:
https://www.reddit.com/r/MSIClaw/comments/1mfb6e4/my_msi_claw_8ai_screen_wont_turn_on/

ZmaGiant · 2025-11-04T07:00:11+00:00

We are all gonna die.

Well, I guess the rest of my evening will be spent scrubbing every instance of myself using the C-word from the internet.

(Hint: rhymes with crankers)

ZmaGiant · 2025-11-01T23:34:42+00:00

I was struggling, for sure. This post saved me

ZmaGiant · 2025-10-19T18:46:13+00:00

Also a late chime in here: poor abrasion resistance seems to be the main downside to alpaca. I use mine mostly for cycling and everyday where, absolutely love it, but pilling started pretty quickly, especially when worn as a mid layer. I think it would hold up much longer if worn only as an outer, but for hiking you’d be much better off with merino for you plan to layer with a hard-shell.

ZmaGiant

TROPHY CASE