Just over a year after releasing the original fifteen button Stream Deck, Elgato has decided to shrink the device down to a miniature six button dock. A lot of people seem to be disappointed by this announcement as they wanted more buttons, not less. In the year since the release of the first Stream Deck, many improvements have been made to the software (like the Multi Actions tool) that encourage users to do more with a single button press. With the ability to do more with less, we’ll see whether or not the cheaper Stream Deck Mini (£90/$100) is worth picking up over its pricier, older sibling.

Aside from the obvious change being the lack of eleven additional buttons, Elgato has improved the design of the Stream Deck Mini by making the device one whole piece. The Stream Deck Mini has a rubber pad at the bottom to stop it from sliding around when moved accidentally. This does mean that users are unable to tilt the Stream Deck like they were able to with the original device, but I’d much rather accept this compromise for an overall sturdier Stream Deck. The buttons themselves appear to be exactly the same as the original Stream Deck, which is to say that they’re of a decent quality, yet they can get stuck if you happen to press the button slightly too hard.