The Elgato Stream Deck MK.2 is a sort of humorous factor, a bit plastic field with 15 plastic buttons. Each button has a tiny display screen behind it, and when pressed can do any variety of issues – launching a program, altering to a brand new scene in a stream, adjusting your media quantity, muting a microphone or sending out an alert. It’s preferrred for automation, supplying you with a straightforward solution to set off scripts or shortcuts that velocity up the dreary elements of your job or your favorite sport, and naturally for sport streamers it is invaluable. The MK.2 mannequin usually prices £139, however as we speak at Currys you possibly can choose one up for £97 utilizing the code GAMING30.

So what makes the 2021 MK.2 higher than the unique 2017 Stream Deck? Well, not a lot. The largest leap ahead has are available in software program, not {hardware}, and each bins have entry to the identical options. There aren’t extra buttons, or fewer – see the Stream Deck XL or Stream Deck Mini for that. Instead, there are simply three comparatively minor modifications:

• Interchangeable faceplates
• USB Type C port with a removable USB-C cable
• Detachable 45-degree mounted angle stand

Perhaps unsurprisingly, meaning there’s little cause to improve in the event you’ve already received a Stream Deck – nevertheless it does imply that the Stream Deck MK.2 is just a bit bit nicer than the older mannequin in the event you’re shopping for one for the primary time. Those alternative faceplates are fairly neat, too.

For me, the Stream Deck is cool as a result of it fulfills, in a method, a promise that was made a few years in the past after I was first beginning within the business. There was a keyboard idea known as the Optimus, the place as an alternative of getting letters completely etched into the keycaps, it had tiny color screens behind every key. With a full-size format, that meant greater than 100 screens – or extra accuarately, one display screen subdivided into 100 sections – and fed by clear keycaps.

It sounded unbelievable, however the retail keyboards that adopted existed in tiny numbers and initially value $1600. They have been additionally quite garbage to make use of, with no actual tactile suggestions to talk of – it very a lot felt you have been pushing a large piece of plastic alongside a brief tunnel, which you sort of have been. The software program expertise was additionally dire, requiring time-consuming configuration to set every key’s objective and legend one-by-one. Later keyboards have been smaller and value much less, however the idea had already proven to be a sensible failure by this level.

A decade later, and the Stream Deck is an accepted a part of the furnishings within the streaming house, costing a suitable sum of money with software program that may really help it. It’s been a cool development to witness, and makes the £97 discounted value right here appear a bit extra cheap…