There is a great series on YouTube called Room Tour Project by RandomFrankP. Once a week, Frank, the host, publishes a new episode where he showcases some of the best computer desktop setups that people submit. With desk setups displaying minimalistic wiring, floating monitors, and matching colors, I constantly look at my own setup to see how I can improve it.
The setups on this series seem perfect in every way, but one thing to remember is that these setups take time and money. It’s the little things that count when creating the ultimate desk setup. As Frank likes to point out in the series, fake plants and little knickknacks add a lot of flare to the setups.
When tablets hit the market, many news outlets told the world that desktop computing was degrading and that it was the end of sitting at a desk. It has been quite the contrary, as desktop machines have been more popular than ever.
New graphics cards have us wondering if we need an upgrade, LED light kits give us a flare to our rooms, and case manufacturers are creating some outstanding new designs.
As shown at CES this year, LED RGB is the new fad. Everybody wants an LED RGB setup as it allows for unlimited customization. Therefore, why not expand your LED RGB lighting to your entire desk? Watch an episode or two of Room Tour Project and right away you will find a setup using LED RGB lighting around the desk. The back glow of any color you want can sometime complete the look and feel of the room.
Being a long term desktop user, I am always trying to find new ways to improve my gaming and desk setup. With the minimalistic cable management and one or two knickknacks completed, I wanted to take it to the next step and add some RGB color to my desk.
While Frank only showcases the builds in his series, I will be going through a review of an LED light kit as well as taking you through the process on how to set everything up so you too can have an awesome desk setup.
Welcome to my review of the Annt LED kit. Throughout this review, I will be discussing the following topics: the functionality, setup, and my final thoughts. A special thank you to Annt for providing me with this LED kit.
Functionality
LED kits are fairly straight forward in terms of build quality. You have a single continuous line of LEDs that transfer power in parallel. Each LED has the ability to produce a Red, Green, or Blue light allowing it to become any color you want.
The LEDs are wrapped in a silicone material to protect against damage and allow them to glow even when pushed up against a wall.
A big benefit of LED kits or LED wiring is that you can cut it on certain points, therefore, shortening the length of the cable. Furthermore, many of these kits come with an IR remote allowing you to change patterns of the lights, select colors, and adjust brightness.
Sent to me was a 16.5 foot cable that has a cut mark every three LEDs. On both ends of the 16.5 foot cable are the four prong inputs for power and control.
Speaking of which, power is supplied through an external power brick that is quite large in size and seems a bit excessive if you ask me. This power brick leads into a white controller unit that has an IR receiver as well as the output to the LED cable.
The functionality of this device is all housed within the remote. You have your straightforward buttons like power, brightness adjustment, and preselected colors, but you can do more than just that. There are modes for glowing, fading, flashing, jumping, or even do it yourself modes for changing from one color to another. The nice thing about the DIY modes is that you get six of them!
Within your RGB color pallet, you can select one color then further add another to create a new color. It’s like painting with light!
Let me say that these LEDs can get bright! With the whole 16.5 foot cable laid out on my floor, the entire room lit up. Moreover, the pulsing modes can become so fast that they basically stay lit. If you are having an outrageous party, then these lights can easily keep up!
The only dislike I have with this remote is that the IR signal is a little weak. You need to be pointing the remote almost dead on to the IR receiver for it to take any input. Other than that dislike, the product functioned as intended and not even a single LED has blown out yet.
Setup
Here is what projected the best results for me and other setups I found online. The LED kit projects outwards in a random pattern of light. What I mean by that is that it is not projected in a line and trying to force the light down or up is quite difficult.
My desk is four feet in length and I wanted the light to glow from the back and sides. Since the cable of LEDs bends only slightly, this was a difficult task and chose to just put the lighting on the rear of the desk, towards the top.
You get two cuts with your LED kit, that’s it. Either end has a female plug, so if you cut four feet off of side one, then you are left with the 12 foot extra. Let’s say you bought a longer desk and want to line that with LED lights. You cut your leftover 12 foot cable at five feet and now you’ve wasted seven feet of LED cable. Try to plan your cuts where you don’t throw away so much product.
On the back of the LED wiring is some sticky tape that does an okay job at holding onto my wooden desk. You may need stronger tape if you are applying more than I did as the cable can get quite heavy.
Try to hide the IR receiver on the corner of your desk. Make it visible, but just barely.
Make sure that the cables for power and the LED wiring are well hidden, ugly cables down walls or exposed to vision make your desk seem less important.
Remember that this doesn’t have to be used on computer desks. Use your imagination and place the LED kit where you need some background glow. Behind TV’s can offer a great effect while gaming; the subtle blue or red can help when playing in the dark.
Finally, set the LEDs to a medium brightness. Max brightness is overwhelming and too in your face. Whereas too low seems like you didn’t position them correctly or they are cheap LEDs.
I would recommend avoiding any crazy colors or patterns, but certainly don’t forget about them! The fading and jumping modes look great when showing off your new setup.
My Final Thoughts
I always have a smile at the end of the day when I sit down at my desk, because I know how much dedication goes into it to make it look that great. For the price of $18.99, the LED kit was a huge success. The background glow of either red or white goes well with my setup and makes other people say “wow” when they walk in the room. If you are looking for a way to spice up your setup then I highly recommend LED lights as you can customize them to your liking.
Note: These reviews are pure honestly, so let me say this. Searching on Amazon for an LED kit returns hundreds of different kits, all at different prices. Whether or not Annt wants me to say this or not, these kits are all the same thing (granted they are the RGB LED kits). They all come from the same Chinese factory and are built the exact same way. Even the remote is identical! (Comments based off of Amazon product pictures.)
So why buy one company over the other? I am not sure. Reviews? Trust? They are all backed by Amazon so it really doesn’t matter who you buy it from. From what I can tell, there isn’t any benefit of one brand over the other. That said, this LED kit worked perfectly for me without problem.
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