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.
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.