Laptops In the Dark: Let There Be Light
On Christmas morning I got a surprise from Santa. He stuffed it right into my Christmas stocking along with some candy and Silly Putty. And, no, it was not a lump of coal from EB, it was something that costs less than $10 but from which I’m going to get at least $100 of usefulness!
First a little backstory: My ASUS laptop which is just over 3-years old, came with a lighted keyboard. While I’m a touch typist **please don’t laugh**, I still like to see the keyboard for number keys, fn key combinations and other keys that I find to be not touch friendly. To make a backstory short – my ASUS laptop lighted keyboard stopped working after six months. I was able to get it working again, but it quit again… and again and again. Finally, I got tired of fiddling with it. Winter has descended upon my neck o’ the woods and it’s dark when I wake up and it’s dark before dinner time. In other words – it’s dark a lot of the time. Hence, I either turn on the lights in the room to work, or I fumble around in the dark. Most of you are putting your money on the latter, however you’d be wrong.
In my stocking this year, I found something I never new existed, but which have existed for years. I received a package of 8 LED Laptop lights. They have bendable stems – you just plug them in to any USB port on your laptop and twist them around to light up your keyboard. Because I’m a touch typist the shadows cast by my hands don’t bother me, but if the shadows bother you, just plug in two of them.
You can also plug them into a smartphone, tablet or USB chargers and adapters. If you have have a USB adapter plugged into a wall socket these would make great night lights.
In our family stuff that gets stuffed into the Christmas stockings, is usually cheap, fun stuff. The KED lights that I found in my “stocking” cost less than $10 for 8 of them and if you get them from Amazon and are also a Prime member they ship free. There are other brands and configurations, and if you’re interested I’ve put some others you can look at the end of this post.
I’ve only had these LED lights for 2 days so I really can’t vouch for the quality. But I can say they all worked and they are easy to bend and very bright. It’s not as good as having a lighted keyboard, but it’s a lot better than turning on room lights at night – plus I’m sure I’ll find a lot of other uses for them.
Here’s some screenshots (these came from Amazon).
Eight cute LED lights that plug into a laptop USB port and light up your keyboard (and workspace).
You can use them for a lot of other things too. Use them for a reading light, a night light, keyboard light… or if your car has USB ports – a night light or reading light for your car… use your imagination.
Now I have a “lighted keyboard” thanks to a thoughtful gift from Santa. And if you’re interested here is the Amazon page with more information. This set of 8 lights cost $6.99 (with free shipping for Prime members).
Here are some other brands of LED computer lights, in case you want to look at some other brands and lights with more features such as variable brightness and on and off switches:
USB Reading Lamp with 14 LEDs Dimmable Touch Switch and Flexible Gooseneck
We don’t get a commission from any of these — and I have not tested any of them except for the ones I got from Santa. Mine work great. One thing is for sure. If you didn’t know about these lightst before, at least you’re no longer in the dark!
I didn’t know these USB lights existed either. Thanks for the info. For several years now I ‘ve been using one of those battery-operated book lights clipped on the top of my laptop screen. I recently bought one that goes around the neck with a light on each end, but I haven’t tried it yet. So many book lights are USB rechargeable and use leds.
Thanks for the great tip. I wasn’t aware of these USB lights either! I just found them for $4.99 with free shipping at eBay!
I have ones that do the same thing but are larger. (from the top of the usb connector the twisty part is 11″ tall, the top is 2 1/2″ by bit less than 2″ and has 9 led lights). obviously with that length,, the skinny goose neck really can be contorted!) i got them at the dollar store about 4 years ago and i haven’t seen them since i bought them. they are marvelous. mine are too big/heavy for phones, but super for a laptop. you will love them. my photo sensitivity doesn’t like lights on in the dark. until i got these, i placed a small flashlight on its side so it would shine across the keyboard. now i have lighted keyboards but i still have my backups leds just in case. santa got you the best presents for everyday use, especially during these dark winter hours. and they turn off when your laptop goes to sleep. that’s another great feature. enjoy them for years. i’m happy for you. they make such a difference. happy boxing day!!!
This is great! Very thoughtful! These are good for old geezers like me. The eyes don’t quite see like they used to and it really helps to have a little extra light, here and there. I just may buy myself an “after Christmas” gift.
These are just what I need for my laptop! Thank you so very much for sharing this information with us! I will be ordering mine today!
I went out and ordered them that day. Great nightlight, but they do get warm.
POWER CONSUMPTION?
In the USB 1.0 and 2.0 specs, a standard downstream port is capable of delivering up to 500mA (0.5A); with USB 3.0, it moves up to 900mA (0.9A). The charging downstream and dedicated charging ports provide up to 1,500mA (1.5A). An led used in these types of laptop lights use 1 watt or less. So power consumption is extremely low.