ROCCAT Sova Mechanical Gaming Lapboard REVIEW

Somebody looking to play PC games in the living room or perhaps connect a USB keyboard and mouse to an android device like the Nvidia Shield might want to try this.

I tried a couple of different ways of using a keyboard in the living room. just using a keyboard without any desk or support. Leaning over to the coffee table, a couple of those mini keyboards by logitech and another one that is Chinese and is about the size of a remote. Putting a board on my knees and putting a keyboard on it, the Razer turret. But the Roccat Lapboard is the best all around option for living room computing and gaming without the need for a desk.

The Roccat lapboard first of all is comfortable to use. It is made out of plastic and lightweight with that weight distributed well. Pillowy pads on the bottom make it easy to use on your lap for long periods of time even if you're like me and don't wear pants in the house. It's built for right handed mouse use and uses a tenkeyless layout allowing a smaller footprint than even some other options like the Corsair Lapdog.

If I were Goldilocks picking between the Roccat, Corsair Lapdog and Razer Turret, I'd say the Turret is too small, the Lapdog is too big, and the Roccat is just right.

It uses a breakaway cable so there's no fear of tripping over it except to your pride. It has a rubberized coating helping to keep it safe from spills as well as wear and tear. It uses 2 USB ports on your PC to power the keyboard and 2 USB 2.0 ports underneath the keyboard. Good for phones, tablets or whatever you want to plug in and keep close.

The 84 key mechanical keyboard is built into the device meaning you'll never worry about it falling off the board like with DIY options. There are 3 lock keys on top, a wrist rest at the bottom and a mouse pad on the side large enough for a full range of mouse movement. The hard plastic means it's not the most satisfying surface but it gets the job done and is large and sturdy enough to place a mousepad on. The mouse will slide when it is not held though. Media functionality is in the F-keys The entire keyboard has blue backlighting and is mechanical with TTC brown switches which feel very similar to cherry switches.

All around the keyboard has a good feel I've written most of my articles here on it, gamed, written code, it suits all those purposes amazingly and it feels as rock solid and stable as using a desk.

Grooves under the top allow you to channel a mouse cable through but you might want to choose a wireless mouse like the Logitech G903 lightspeed. That and the wirelessly charging mousepad make this a killer living room gaming set up.

In the Swarm software you can change sound feedback to anything from blue style clicking to typewriter sounds, LED feedback as well as settings like to pulse or fade, character repeat, set macros or reset the SOVA MK to the defaults.

A number of bugs caused me to uninstall the software some involving games I play recognizing it as cheat software. If you have the keyboard set up to your liking and aren't constantly changing things this is still a great daily driver.

It's the best daily driver for using a mechanical keyboard in your living room. The compromises are all made in the right places and not too much. While the Corsair lapdog has 4 USB ports it also needs a power cable to be plugged in, while the turret is smaller, it's mouse pad is practically unusable. You can tell they spent a lot of time getting this right. The keyboard also comes in a membrane version for about $30 less $149 vs $177 but why would you do that to yourself? Get the mechanical unless you've got somebody sleeping in the living room or easily annoyed by mechanical.

If you're in a dorm or just want to hook up a keyboard in the living room you're not gonna beat the Roccat Sova unless you get a desk.

(photos besides the crappy one from Roccat)