My initial thoughts and feedback on Lapdog (warning: wall of text)

Howdy folks,

I'm newly registered but have been a long-time user of Corsair products. I had been anticipating the Laptop ever since pictures of prototypes started showing up online. I pre-ordered one as soon as could, even though the Lapdog grew larger in size over the various iterations.

Well, my Lapdog arrived earlier this week and I finally assembled it with a K70 RGB that arrived this morning.

Here are my initial thoughts and feedback.

The Good:

1. Sturdy build; good materials and construction

2. Great idea storing the hex-key between the foam and keyboard base

3. I was afraid the larger size would be a huge turn off (it's nearly twice as wide as my current couch setup) but it turns out to be a great size. Fears absolved.

The Bad:

4. The cutout for the mouse cable is alarmingly sharp. I foresee shredded mouse cables over time as they rub against the right-side of the upper keyboard retainer and upper-left edge of the mousepad. Please consider rounding-off these edges in the future.

5. The external USB port and power receptacle are flimsy. These need to be reinforced, recessed, or perhaps even made to detached in a better manner. The lack of strain-relief combined with the dangling of a rather heavy-duty USB/power-combo cable will only result in tears in the long run. Ironic considering how bad-*** and well-thought out the cables for Corsair keyboards are.

I can already imagine at least the USB port snapping inside the Lapdog due to tripping on a cable or the Lapdog falling at a bad angle.

Other areas for improvement:

6. Please consider allowing the mounting of the placeholder piece (for K65/K60 keyboards) to the left side of the keyboard. The addition of a screw mount on the left side of the keyboard holding area (similar to the existing one on the right) could accomplish this.

7. Please consider the storing of the placeholder piece (for K65/K60 keyboards) between the foam and keyboard base, just like the hex-key currently. Or better yet, under the mousepad in the plastic cross-hatch area. Not sure if there's room but it would be nice to not lose it.

8. Great idea, thinking ahead and including what appears to be a USB 3.0 motherboard header under the mousepad area. I'm guessing it's for future expansion, but the cross-hatched plastic in the area only appears to be partially cut out to allow for cables. Did someone's idea get axed right before feature lockdown?

9. Wrist-support -- I'm changing this from "would be nice" to "badly needed." I thought it wouldn't be a big deal but after using the Lapdog over the weekend I found the lack of wrist support at lap-level to be extremely uncomfortable (vs. on a desk where the lack of support less noticeable.) I found another forum post about wrist support but I'm guessing the idea was dropped?

Maybe achieve this by shifting the keyboard forward and swapping the cable channel closer to the user?

10. Please reconsider the mouse cord bungee idea again. I'm guessing that it was deemed unnecessary with the inclusion of the cable channeling but there is actually more need for it since I pulled out extra cable length to reduce the chance of accidental slicing due to the sharp edges of the channel opening (see point #4, above).

Overall my initial impressions of the Lapdog are positive. I had been looking forward to it for a long time and my fears of it having grown too large were largely placated upon actually handling the product and using it in my lap. It's a great size. The only alarming issues that really should be addressed are #4 and #5 above. #9 is important but passable. The rest of the feedback is just icing on the cake.

If anything else comes up, I plan on updating this thread with additional feedback as I use the Lapdog more.

Cheers!

EDIT: Updated #7, #8; Added #9, #10

EDIT: Updated #9

4: Theres no "cutout" for the mouse cable. You have propably mounted it wrong then.

The mouse cable should exit in the space between the top cable channel cover and the mousepad. There becomes like a 2x3 cm hole there.

The edges there are not really alarmingly sharp, and if you still think they are sharp, you can easily use a random metallic object, hold it at 45* angle against the bottom edge of the cover (while the cover is unmounted) and "rub" the inner edge to smooth it out. Just a few swipes are enough.

5: I dont think it flimsy.

However, the shipped cable is really fricking-unneccessary-super-long and pretty heavy. I could have wound it up around the equator on the earth several times. If I would use that cable, the rat nest behind the computer would be 10x as large as before I had Lapdog.

So the best here is to buy a new cable. I found 6 feet/1.8 meters to be a good length. The cable needs to be a USB A 3.0 male in both ends.

The power adapter and power feed is really not needed if you aren't running anything else than the mouse and keyboard, then the USB3.0 power will be enough. (Note: If you use super-long cable you will still need power feed, as the voltage drop over a long USB cable will be too much otherwise).

I have tested, works perfectly.

6: I don't think its a problem. I will propably mod the spacer piece instead. I have a genovation cp24 macro keyboard, as a password manager, and the circuit board is almost exactly as large as the spacer piece. Have tested and the circuit board fits perfectly in the space between the K65 and the right wall, so its just a opportunity to pick up the Dremel from the toolbox and start modding.

Then I will get a "number pad" on my K65, but that is like 100 times more useful.

8: No, it isnt a USB 3.0 port. A USB 3.0 port has 20 pins (2x10). This port does have 16 pins (2x8).

But it do really look like it will appear some addons. Theres a cable cutout to a lower rectangle section under the mouse pad. I suspect it will come a future addition in the form of a LCD display or something embedded in the mousepad, that can be purchased as a upgrade.

But it would be really nice to get the pinout of that 16 pin connector, for us modders :-)