Pros
Comfortable
Large mousepad
Stable
Powered USB ports for quick charging
Cons
Keyboard part may do with a wristrest
Quite costly for what it does
Key Specifications
Review Price: £110.00
Aluminium high
Supports any Corsair Okay70 or Okay65 keyboard
Can be used with any mouse
Two additional USB 3.0 ports
Padded lap relaxation
Integrated mousemat
What is the Corsair Lapdog?
PC players want not be confined to the again room – advances in TV expertise and compact PC circumstances imply that it’s possiblr to partake in a little bit of gaming from the consolation of the lounge. However, having to take care of wired mouse and keyboard in such a situation can show a little bit of a faff. Although bog-standard Bluetooth keyboards at the moment are pretty low-cost, they’ll’t evaluate to a correct mechanical keyboard. With the Lapdog, Corsair seems to be to resolve this drawback in a single costly swoop.
The Corsair Lapdog consists of a base unit that may home one among Corsair’s keyboards and a mouse of your selection; all of it connects to your PC through a single cable. With a padded underside and built-in mouse mat, the Lapdog supplies every thing you must want for secure and comfy gaming from the couch. It’s like a a lot bigger model of the Razer Turret keyboard and mouse mixture.
Corsair Lapdog – Design and Features
The Lapdog is product of two fundamental sections: a troublesome plastic piece on which sit the mousemat and keyboard, and a second plate that magnetically attaches to the underside to supply the padding.
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Usefully, it’s doable to exchange the precise padding on the latter part with out having to spend money on an entire unit. Considering the abuse it could incur, and the truth that it isn’t washable – nor can it’s wiped down like the remainder of the Lapdog – this is a bonus.
The plates are 2mm-thick slabs of aluminium, consisting of the 277 x 251mm mousemat, a high piece into which you’ll be able to cover and cables, a decrease part that holds the underside fringe of the keyboard, and an elective piece that comes into play provided that you’re utilizing the shorter Okay65 vary of keyboards that don’t function a quantity pad.
Corsair has made fairly a reputation for itself for producing mechanical keyboards with a premium vibe and strong really feel, so it’s nice to see it proceed in that vein with the Lapdog.
However, those that desire one other model of keyboard are out of luck for the reason that Lapdog is barely suitable with the corporate’s Okay70 and Okay65 keyboards. You can use any mouse, although.
The Lapdog features a absolutely powered two-port USB 3.0 hub that can be utilized for connecting a USB headset, attaching one other set of peripherals (for multi-player on a single laptop maybe), or simply charging your cellphone.
Corsair Lapdog – Setup
Setting up the Lapdog requires the elimination of the highest plate and mousemat; relying on whether or not you’re utilizing a full-sized Okay70 keyboard or the shorter Okay65, you could must take away the central metallic plate, too.
Inside, there are a few USB ports into which you plug the mouse and keyboard (ignore the second USB plug on the keyboard) then it’s merely a case of tucking all the surplus cable beneath the highest plate and mousemat. The keyboard’s cables received’t be seen in any respect; almost about the mouse, you merely thread as a lot cable as you want out by means of a channel below the highest plate, simply subsequent to the mousemat.
As already talked about, it’s doable to make use of any mouse of your selecting with the Lapdog, and in idea you’ll be able to even go for a distinct mouse mat if you happen to’re not a fan of the Lapdog’s onerous plastic mousing surfaces. However, the one included is completely good, and its raised edges alongside the appropriate and backside guarantee your mouse stops wanting sliding off the unit.
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The slight draw back to the entire setup is that you just do nonetheless want a cable to attach all of it to your PC – this isn’t a wi-fi answer. What’s extra, Corsair additionally recommends you present additional energy to the Lapdog courtesy of the included energy provide.
However, Corsair has made what’s probably fairly a cumbersome setup so simple as doable. The firm supplies a protracted 16ft (4.8m) cable for trailing to your PC. In addition, not solely does the Lapdog require using only one USB 3.0 port to hook up with your PC/console, nevertheless it additionally runs that additional energy as much as the Lapdog as effectively. As a end result, you’ll be able to have the facility provide plugged in subsequent to your PC and never have two cables dangling over your lap.
What’s extra, the facility provide is solely “recommended”, it isn’t obligatory. You’ll want it to make use of the additional USB ports – for charging a cellphone, for instance – however for less than the keyboard and mouse, the only USB ought to suffice. It labored all through testing even on a USB 2.0 socket.
Corsair Lapdog – Comfort and Performance
Most obvious on first utilizing the Lapdog is simply how secure and comfy it feels.
The complete setup is sturdy sufficient to make sure that the tapping of your fingers on the keyboard and motion of the mouse doesn’t trigger the Lapdog to wobble in any respect, whereas the padded underside stops it from sliding round in your lap.
In addition, the mouse mat is loads large enough to not really feel cramped. I skilled no points whereas taking part in a extra intense FPS, as an example, the place the mouse was flying round at breakneck pace.
The Corsair Lapdog isn’t excellent, nonetheless.
First is that the dearth of a raised edge alongside the entrance of the mousemat, which ends up in the mouse sliding off in that course if left unattended in some sitting positions.
Then there’s the truth that it’s fairly a big and heavy setup. Although this provides to the Lapdog’s general sturdiness and stability in use, it additionally makes it just a little cumbersome to retailer and carry round.
Also, personally I discovered the pure keyboard place to be little too far to the left. While you’ll be able to simply shuffle the entire thing over a bit, to attain what I thought of a snug typing place resulted within the Lapdog being to date to the appropriate that it was solely a inch or so from balancing fully on my proper leg, due to this fact turning into unstable.
The lack of a wrist relaxation additionally impacts consolation. Since there’s no room so as to add one, you’ll both need to undertake a raised-wrist typing place – which, is after all what we should always all do anyway – or let your arms drop and sort at an ungainly angle and contact the somewhat sharp edges.
These consolation points apart, the Lapdog works impressively effectively. You actually can play FPS to a fairly aggressive degree or kind out a prolonged doc all from the consolation of your couch. All the whereas, you’ve gotten just one cable to take care of and one secure, all-in-one unit to pickup and put down in between classes.
Assuming your lounge is large enough, it’s positively the form of factor you would have saved subsequent to the TV and drag out when wanted, with out a lot trouble.
Should I purchase the Corsair Lapdog?
The Lapdog might be seen as one thing of an answer to an issue that doesn’t exist, or at the very least an excessively engineered answer to a reasonably minor drawback. However, if you happen to can establish with that drawback then the Lapdog most positively solves it. Related: Best Gaming Laptops It brings a degree of comfort and ease of use to utilizing a keyboard and mouse from a settee that I haven’t witnessed earlier than, and in doing so genuinely opens the door to taking part in video games resembling Titanfall 2 withthe aggressive edge a keyboard and mouse can carry.
Combine this with the truth that it’s a effectively thought by means of and a effectively made little bit of package, and the Lapdog goes a protracted solution to justifying what’s undeniably a excessive asking worth.
Verdict
Not the most affordable little bit of package for lounge gaming, however the Corsair Lapdog supplies a secure and comfy answer for players.