After having it for a week or so now, I think I made the right choice. From some things I have read, the Square Off seemed a bit early in its life cycle for me. The Centaur seemed more for somebody who already is at least somewhat a chess master. The Millennium The King Performance seems just right for somebody starting out and all the way through a strong club player, which will be me from now until well into the future.
It is not fun to get soundly beaten all the time, nor to put the chess computer into a lower level mode only to have it make obvious blunders as I have read the Centaur seems to do at lower levels of play.
The Millennium seems to play well at the lower levels so it doesn't seem as if it is just throwing the game.
Personally, it is not a big deal to me whether I have to lightly press on the start and end of the squares of the move or simply slid pieces around. I never understood why some make it a big deal. An advantage to having to press on the squares to register a move is that I can use ANY chess I choose since the pieces don't have special chips or magnets to regoznie moves.
There are many features in the Millennium that are helpful for learning. In my opinion, it is easier to use than the older dedicated chess computers I have used for taking back pieces, setting up positions, etc. The lower comfort modes are perfect for a beginner and having the occasional win certainly helps with motivation.
I read here in these forums, the suggestion to play at the lowest level until I can routinly beat the computer, then go to the next level, and so on. That seems like a perfect application of the Millennium The King Performance.
Who cares if it only plays up to a 2400-2500 level? How many of us hobby players are at that level or will even get to that level? To me, having the features the Millennium has is far more important. Having a strong enougn play that it will take years for me to be able to beat it (if I ever get that far) is plenty good enough for me.
I am sure these other dedicated chess computers are very fine, but the Millennium The King Performance suits my needs perfectly.
I've been enjoying my Kingdom set since 2019. I play at least once a week. I did buy directly from the factory after waiting for a Black Friday price (ie; late November). Shipping took several weeks but was not delayed. Customer service has been helpful but not always able to solve my issue. During my last game, I was playing black and the board did not register white's first move. I made the move for it, and then responded on the board, and the game continued normally from there. Sometimes it just gets goofy later in the game and you have to manually adjust the pieces. Overall, I enjoy the board, and it's encouraged me to play more. It's a great way to stay in touch with my chess buddy who lives in another hemisphere.
I don't expect it to last too long. Sooner or later it will probably malfunction or they'll stop keeping the software updated for smart phones. We'll see.