Gaming

Razer Turret: Great for gaming on sofa, but pricey

The Razer Turret keyboard has an integrated foldable mousepad to work with the bundled mouse. PHOTO: RAZER

The Razer Turret keyboard and mouse combo is designed for gamers who like to play in front of their TV set from the comfort of their sofa. The keyboard has an integrated foldable mousepad to work with the bundled mouse.

So you can play comfortably with the Turret on your lap.

An included charging dock lets you charge both keyboard and mouse at the same time.

The keyboard can last four months per charge, while the mouse is supposed to last 40 hours.

The Turret's keyboard is lightweight. It is also thin, at around 1cm, when you fold out the integrated mousepad. A coat of rubber on the underside of the keyboard keeps it from moving around when placed on your lap.

While the keys are pretty nice to type, they are neither mechanical nor backlit. But the keyboard has anti-ghosting capability for up to 10 simultaneous key presses. Ghosting refers to a situation when some keys do not work when multiple keys are being pressed at the same time.

  • TECH SPECS

  • PRICE: $269.90

    COMPATIBILITY: PC/Mac/Razer Forge

    CONNECTIVITY: 2.4GHz Wireless, Bluetooth

    WEIGHT: 698g (keyboard), 88g (mouse)


    RATING

    FEATURES: 4/5

    DESIGN: 4/5

    PERFORMANCE: 3/5

    BATTERY LIFE: 5/5

    VALUE FOR MONEY: 3/5

    OVERALL: 4/5

The six-button Turret gaming mouse looks uncannily like Razer's Orochi. Its small size might not be for everyone, but it is magnetic and thus sticks better to the metallic mousepad than a normal mouse. Unfortunately, it still slips off when you tilt the keyboard at 30 degrees.

The Turret's keyboard and mouse work via Bluetooth or 2.4GHz wireless connection. Remove the back cover of Turret's mouse and you will find a 2.4GHz wireless USB adapter. Plug this adapter to your PC or Mac computer and you are ready to start the gaming.

During our tests, the Turret worked seamlessly on both Mac and Windows computers via both types of wireless connection.

I played a number of games from role-playing Fallout 4 to first-person shooter Overwatch. The Turret was decent, but not as instinctive as using a desktop mouse and keyboard combo.

I do wish for more mousepad real estate, as the Turret's mousepad did not give me enough space to move the mouse cursor quickly in the heat of my virtual battles.

While not officially supported, pairing the Turret with the latest Apple TV works. I could search for apps using the Turret keyboard. Unfortunately, my joy was short-lived as I found that none of the first-person shooter games in tvOS app store supports the Turret.

Guess Razer wants to keep the Turret for its own yet-to-be- released Android gaming set-top box, the Forge.

• Verdict: The Razer Turret is quite a hefty investment for a sofa gaming keyboard-and-mouse setup that has no backlight and mechanical keys. But it does provide you with a good gaming option on your sofa.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on July 06, 2016, with the headline Razer Turret: Great for gaming on sofa, but pricey. Subscribe