Gadgetory

living room gaming on the PC has long been riddled with compromises and even with mini ITX systems for the living room there still been one constant issue the lack of accompanying peripherals controllers have their place but for many users the keyboard and mouse is not only a signature of PC gaming but also very necessary for many games unfortunately actually using them when on the couch or in a chair is next to impossible until now the z9 neo by Zalman brings all the right features on a budget with a large windowed side panel 5 included fans and the excellent interior layout with super simple cable management get it now link in the description below course has been building up their premium living room experience as of late first up was the Mini ITX PC titled bulldog which combines performance alongside looks that blend right into a home theater environment and now the accompanying keyboard and mouse combo fittingly titled the lap dog as its name suggests the lap dog is meant to allow you to game comfortably from your lap with a keyboard and mouse the lap dog is available either as a bare-bones kit or bundled with the compatible K 65 or K 70 keyboards course as aim with this system is to provide a premium and polished unit even if it doesn't have the innovative features like wireless functionality right from the exterior finished courses commitment to quality is evident and the build is excellent although it is to be expected considering this is coming in at a retail price of a hundred and twenty dollars for the bare-bones unit it's not an insignificant price but it's also not without justification you've got three main sections the top pieces are all a great-looking brushed aluminum finish which gives the laptop a premium feel and it blends beautifully with the finish of the K 17 which I'm using or alternatively DK 65 these are the only keyboards officially compatible the lap dog so you'll have to shell out the cash for those you can use any USB mouse however and as you can see I've been testing this out with corsair saber RGB and using corsair software i can sync the lighting between the keyboard and the mouse examining the build once more when you remove the top covers you have the main plastic frame and while there's a little bit of flex its impressively built especially since adding the keyboard and outer frame adds rigidity the main frame has three sections why cut out for the keyboard a long strip along the top for cable routing and the USB hub for the keyboard and the mouse on the hub is a strange 16 pin port which Corsair is saying is reserved for future use the last consideration is that you have to leave the keyboard USB passed through unplugged as there are only two USB ports on the internal hub and the keyboards pass-through is also blocked inside the lap dog it would have made sense to keep this pass-through active and accessible so you wouldn't have to remove the mouse pad to swap mice on the exterior we have two external USB ports so that you can charge your phone or plug in another peripheral we also have USB 3 input to power the keyboard and mouse and an AC adapter which powers the two other external USB ports I would have liked to see an audio pass-through here so that you could plug a headset directly into the lap dog there are also these reflective surfaces with the Corsair logo which look fantastic until you touch them and they suck up your finger prints the last section is the cushion which attaches using six magnets on the bottom of the main unit I did find the adhesive holding the magnets in place wasn't strong enough and they started to stick onto the bottom instead of holding in place when they did hold in place they allowed for easy detachment of the two sections on the top of the cushion there's a cutout for the included small tool for removing all of the lapdogs screws as well as a little cutout to store some on the bottom is a relatively thin but very cushioned and comfortable memory foam this foam is curved to fit more naturally to your lap and while it means it won't sit flat on a table due to the removable nature you can simply take it off when using the lap dog on a flat surface it's a comfortable cushion and I have no real complaints about it now before we get into the experience of using it we need to take another look at the price the 120 dollar price tag isn't low and when you consider that you have to spend another 150 on the keyboard you're looking at upwards of two hundred and seventy dollars for this set assuming you already have a mouse however just because something is expensive doesn't mean it's necessarily unreasonable and I think that's the case for the lab dog you firstly have to look at what you're paying for for the 120 dollars you're paying for that plastic frame and aluminium shell and mousepad the USB 3 powered hub and the 5 mini USB 3 cable as well as bundled power to top this off you've got the magnetic farm cushion on the bottom when you factor in the costs with the R&D and the polish of the experience you can start to see whether price is coming from and for what you get it starts to make more sense that doesn't necessarily mean it's the right product though while it's understandable why it cost so much it's also overkill for many people while aluminium top plates are nice and the extra USB ports are great for many people they would have preferred knocking off some of that price it's a premium product so understandably it does come with that premium price but enough about the price is the experience good enough to even justify what it's aiming for so let's go about setting this thing up the first step is to remove both the top cover the cover plate for the case 65 and the mousepad you then slip the k70 in and plug it in along with your mouse of choice you can tie down the cables in the true cable loops using the included zip ties I prefer for Corsair to include reusable velcro wraps instead as it expects many people will be taking the board and the mouse in and out you can then grab out the included 5 meter cable for connecting the laptop to the PC and connect it to a USB port on the PC as well as the AC power it's then just a matter of reassembling the lap dog and playing some games with it the experience using the lap dog can be summed up pretty simply you don't notice it and that's the goal of a product like this I can game away without having to think about how the keyboard or the mouse is sitting and it just doesn't get in the way of fluid gameplay I didn't realize how much fun it could be to just relax on a couch and play some step 5 or shadow of mordor for hours on end it really brings a new experience to gaming and I've gotta say I really enjoyed it for me the experience of on the couch gaming is awesome and the lap dog allows for that to happen seamlessly without making compromises on my peripherals when paired up with a mini ITX gaming ring steams big picture mode or in videos game stream it can be superlative however that's not to say that the lap dog is the perfect product and everyone should go out and buy it right now there are certainly some things to take note of first up is the mousepad this is mixed bag for me since courser is opted for a medium sized hard pad surface on one hand it's very solid and easy to clean which is awesome and tracking is great however the surface itself is quite fast compared to a cloth pad and your mouse will glide at a quicker pace so it'll be some time required to get used to playing on the lap dog because the surface encourages quicker mouse movements I found that when I didn't have my hand placed on the mouse would simply slide off unless it hit either the side or bottom barriers while I wouldn't say I'm more competitive shooter like csgo is really suited for the living room if you're playing with a medium or high sensitivity the lap dog will do fine as you can use your mouse of choice the only thing to note is that if you're a low sensitivity gamer the mouse pads physical area might be a little small and because it's much faster than a regular cloth pad you may have to tweak your sensitivity the other issue regarding the mouse is the cutouts where the cable exit the cable runs directly out without any rubber grommets which means it can rub against the sharpish edge of the mousepad I really would have liked to see a smaller hole with some sort of rubber grommet for the cable exit the last complaints is regarding to the keyboards ergonomics usually when a keyboard is being used at the desk you either rest your wrists on a included keyboard wrist rest or on the desk if not both however there isn't any wrist support on the lap dog making it feel strange and a little unnatural to use it first I adjusted overtime but I think it would have been cool to see part of the top cable management portion be moved to the bottom and that space allocated as a wrist rest simply put your wrists get bent at a slightly unnatural angle due to the positioning of your arms relative to the keyboard the one other big thing would have been Wireless now this isn't a small task by any means as evidenced by the continual critique levelled at most wireless peripherals but that would have really made the lapdogs standout wireless tech has been making big leaps as of late and companies like Logitech of showing minimal lag is possible with products like the G 900 Gaming Mouse hopefully at some point course that makes attempts at a wireless laptop or even an upgrade kit for the current one maybe using that lonely 16 pin connection only time will tell and that brings us to the conclusion this is a pretty simple one as the lap dog does almost everything right it's not perfect but for a first generation product it's damn close and you have to applaud Corsair for seeing an uncoded for market and providing such a great product it has its minor flaws and the keyboards are exclusive to Corsair but providing you can get past that and you can splash the cash it's really hard to not recommend the Corsair lap dog so thank you for watching everyone if you enjoyed this review feel free to leave a like and comment if you have any questions or feedback I'm Aiden with Hardware Canucks subscribe for more similar and I will see you in the next one