Roccat Sova Lapboard Review

1. Introduction2. Packaging and Bundle3. Roccat Sova4. Testing5. Closing Thoughts6. View All Pages

The idea of a ‘lapboard' has been part of a recent trend towards gaming in the living room. Steam has been pushing the Steam Machines and their Steam Controller, and that is certainly one way of doing things. The Roccat Sova, however, is another way of bringing PC gaming to the sofa.

It is largely successful, too. Build quality is solid throughout and it is very comfortable to use. I would be happy to recommend it to anyone doing significant amounts of gaming on the sofa – it will not let you down comfort-wise.

The membrane keyboard is also decent, though hardened gamers will probably prefer to spend an extra £40 for the mechanical version.

My biggest problem with the Sova is its mousepad. It is hard plastic, which causes friction between the mouse and the pad, resulting in an irritating scraping sound. It would have been better if Roccat replaced the hard plastic with a soft mousepad, but simply placing a mousemat on top is an easy solution to this problem. Still, when paying upwards of £119 for a lapboard such as the Sova, you should not have to do this in the first place. There is going to be the future option of a cloth mousepad, but the default plastic surface does cause problems.

Other than that, the Sova is a capable and useful piece of kit – it is certainly one way of bringing keyboard and mouse gaming to the sofa.

Furthermore, if we look at the main criticisms we had with Corsair's Lapdog (namely, the long wire from lapboard to PC and where to store the device) they largely apply here. This says to me that the issues present are part and parcel of lapboards in general, rather than issues specific here to the Sova. For example, there is just nothing you can do about a long wire if you want 100% lag-free gaming on the sofa.

As such, I am happy to give the Roccat Sova our ‘Worth Buying' award. As previously mentioned, the membrane version will retail at £119, while the mechanical version will be £159. You can actually pre-order the Sova now from Amazon HERE.

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Pros

• Very comfortable.
• Integrated keyboard.
• Mouse docking rail.
• Good size.
• Cheaper than Corsair's Lapdog.

Cons

• Users have to contend with a 4m cable from PC to sofa.
• Mousepad is hard plastic.
• Space required to store it.
• Right-handed users only.

KitGuru says: The Roccat Sova solves the age-old problem of gaming with a keyboard and mouse on the sofa at a competitive price.

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