I’ve been using a Stream Deck all the way back to the original that launched years and years ago, and recently checked out the Stream Deck Plus, but I never expected a $160 model to drop and be my favourite model to date.
The new Stream Deck Neo is part of Elgato’s new Neo line that is much cheaper than any of its other products, and aimed more at everyday creators and professionals that aren’t into gaming or high-end tech products.
Just like all the other products in the range, the Stream Deck Neo sports a clean white design with a nice white braided cable and thankfully unlike a lot of the other Neo range, this one has a USB-C cord connected.
Whilst a lot of the Neo range is designed to be plug and play without software, this one still needs the Stream Deck app (available on Mac/Windows) for obvious reasons.
It’s as easy as ever to drag and drop actions from the app directly onto the eight buttons ranging anywhere from volume, to muting a call on Teams, to copy and pasting or a huge number of other actions that can be app specific or universal across your workflow.
There’s a few new really cool things that are specific to the Neo Stream Deck and I have no doubts we’ll see them on regular Stream Decks soon. This includes the ability to jump between pages with a little capacitative touch button on the bottom left and right of the unit, but my favourite new feature is a little info bar in the bottom center.
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This can be customise between a huge amount of styles showing the time or time/and date, and can also be customised to add in page numbers, or even changed between pages.
It’s a simple addition, but I can’t tell you how many times a day I want to quickly check the time or date and the fact that this is always there suits the more casual nature of this product.
I’m not quite sure how it could work but I’d love some kind of ability to use the device without needing the Stream Deck software, just to fit into the core design principle of all of these devices being plug and play, but I can also see how this would probably limit functionality of the Stream Deck.
All-in-all, if this was your first Stream Deck, you’d be very happy with the value for money that you’re getting and the minor improvements that go a long way in taking this from the device’s original intent for streamers and into the hands of everyday professionals.
