Why The Stream Deck Is A Great Accessory For Your PC (Even If You're Not A Streamer)

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If you've been following YouTubers and game streamers, you might've noticed that they have a small control panel on their workstation with LCD screens. This is a fully customizable macro pad, and the arguably most popular device at the moment is the Elgato Stream Deck. You might be tempted to think that this device is only for streamers, especially as they're the ones who usually use it, and because of its name.

But whether you're a gamer, a programmer, a video editor, or just someone who uses their computer for any kind of work, you'll find these devices quite useful for boosting your productivity. That's because their customizability makes them super flexible devices, allowing you to program them to do basically anything you need with the touch of a button. You can also customize the icons on the buttons, ensuring that you'll always know what that button does in that particular instance.

One more thing that supercharges the usability of the Stream Deck and its competitors is the ability to change the function of these buttons. For example, I have four different pages of controls on my controller, allowing me to easily switch tools depending on what I'm doing. It can even detect the app I'm currently using, allowing it to switch to the appropriate controls without requiring any user intervention.

I'm not a streamer, yet I still find my controller quite useful. You might be surprised why I don't call it Stream Deck, but that's because I bought a competing brand called the Ulanzi D200. It has one less button than the Stream Deck MK.2, but it's less than a third of the price. In fact, there are several other options on the market — if you go on Amazon and search for 'studio macro controller', you'll find several cheaper options. Nevertheless, the Elgato Stream Deck offers the most options and has excellent software support.

I programmed my D200 to house the shortcuts I often use, like copy, paste, paste without formatting, and insert link. I also added several formatting tools on it, like bold and italicize, thus saving me an extra button press every time I use them. I also added the em-dash on the tool, so I don't have to memorize the character map shortcut needed to insert the symbol.

Since the keyboard I'm using has media controls buried in the function menu, I also assigned media controls to the bottom row to make it easier to control my music. And when I play games like American Truck Simulator, I also use my controller to have some controls readily available. For example, I put cruise control and navigation controls on it — that way, I don't get confused when I cannot remember what a particular button does on my steering wheel.

These capabilities make the Stream Deck and similar devices great for multitasking at work. The only downside of using a Stream Deck or any other macro device is that setting it up can get complicated. But if you have the patience and take the time to program it to your needs, you'll make your workflow (or gaming) so much faster and more convenient.