INTRODUCTION

   Aside all the essential and somewhat basic peripherals computer owners need to own (with the keyboard, mouse and mouse pad clearly occupying the first spots) there are countless more in the market aimed at people who want or need something "extra". For example LED illumination is far from what we'd call essential both in hardware and peripherals alike (it can come handy however when you try typing in the dark) but because of their looks such products have been extremely popular especially among gamers and enthusiasts. The same can also be said about numerous "niche" electronics which are far from necessary but the vast variety/selection for all pockets, tastes and needs is also one of the things one has to love about this specific market. The Stream Deck Mini by Elgato is the very first product released after their acquisition by CORSAIR and it has been with us for almost three weeks now.

   Elgato is the leading provider of hardware and software for content creators, leveraging decades of experience to develop widely-accessible products that empower all creators to produce high-quality, professional content. A leader in game capture, Elgato offers four powerful game capture cards, the Stream Deck controller, and accompanying software that enables creators to easily record, upload, and livestream professional content. Designed in Germany and California, Elgato products are distributed by major retailers in over eighty countries around the world. In July 2018, Elgato was acquired by CORSAIR, and remains a separate brand within CORSAIR.

   As clearly pointed out by its name the Stream Deck Mini is the smaller brother of the Stream Deck released again by Elgato last year and as expected their sole difference lies on the number of available LCD keys. So although the original Stream Deck features a total of 15 LCD keys the brand new Stream Deck Mini has only 6 and although that's less than half at the same time it's also less than half the size of its larger brother. The main question however is what can you use the Stream Deck Mini for? The simple answer is that it can help you simplify (streamline) several computer tasks by simply assigning them (drag and drop) onto its LCD keys pretty much the same way as the macro keys of a keyboard (with far better looks however since all 6 keys can be personalized either with the hundreds pre-installed icons or of course your very own custom ones). As Elgato states on their website with a quick tap streamers can switch scenes, launch media, open websites and folders, send a tweet and much more and as you will all see later on this is actually an understatement since the Stream Deck Mini can be used as a 6-way shortcut to perform virtually any task on your computer.