I was watching this video the other day and our friend Bob made a comment about the steamdecks trackpads, essentially calling the bad. I want to know what the community thinks.
For me, they are a game changer. They are not the best implemented trackpads I’ve ever seen but on a handheld it made a world of difference setting up any desktop software like emudeck, and any of the associated emulators. Civ games in my opinion are easier to navigate and I would be hard pressed to try to play any type of RTS game without them. Not to mention that after a year of having the Deck, I just learned how to comfortably type with them. I’ve bound them to be a radial dial of tools within games and with the desktop mode.
This morning I heard of the Aya Neo Kun, a 75 watt hour x86 handheld with trackpads. Outside the GDP WIN 4 with it’s physical keyboard this is the only other x86 handheld I think I could consider using. I believe its physical trackpads would help me navigate the nightmare that is windows 11. I will always prefer a mouse and keyboard but on the go, they’ve been a handy tool to getting things done.
Love em, hate em, or just don’t care about em, I’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts.
What games have you been playing on your deck? Recently got Grounded on the sale. Hoping to tweak the trackpad to pull up the radial menu faster. Games a lot of fun with friends, but combat it slower when pulling up the radial menu doesn’t go away until you’ve select something.
So I play a lot of games from the 90s that have no concept of a modern controller. Games like Starfleet Academy and MechWarrior 2 and those games are very single keyboard key functions. But with a little bit of trial and error i have all those functions tied to popup onscreen menus and can play handheld no problem. All i need now is a Steam Controller two because when i play docked i feel like i am missing half my controller without the track-pads.
Mech warrior 4 vegenence was my first entry in series early 2000s. This post makes me want to try out Mech Warrior 2 on the deck. Another point for steam controller. Im currently working my way through some SNES titles I missed. Playing Fall Out 1 is on my list as well and I think the track pads would be plenty usefully in that game.