The best upgrade for my 2022 gaming setup cost me just 12 euros

Are you looking for a cheap and simple upgrade for your desk that will improve your workplace or gaming setup in the long term? MeinMMO editor Benedikt Schlotmann bought a small upgrade for his setup and it really paid off.

I regularly sit at my desk in the evening and read, work or play my current favorite games. However, if you look at a monitor in a dark room, your eyes will eventually tire. That’s why I had already bought a great lamp for my desk, but the room itself remained dark.

So I deliberately looked for an option to illuminate my desk a little better. But I didn’t want to constantly switch on the ceiling lights or buy a desk lamp that only illuminates my table selectively.

I ended up buying an LED light strip that only costs 12 euros.

A simple light bar improves the desk significantly and costs next to nothing

What is this product? The furniture giant IKEA has meanwhile entered the gaming world and offers furniture for gamers with ASUS. But IKEA has had LED light strips in its range for a few years now, sold under the name “LEDBERG”.. You usually stick them or mount them in drawers so that you can see your laundry or other things there. The light strip is then connected to the socket with a plug.

I bought a light strip like this from IKEA and put it on my desk behind my monitors. The light bar costs only 12 euros and can be installed in just a few minutes. The version from IKEA is plugged into each other and the light bar can be extended as desired. A total of three parts (each 25 cm long) can be stuck together.

What’s so good about that? You can see the improvement immediately and I’ve included a photo for you. If I’m sitting at my desk in the evening and don’t have the ceiling lights on, then I have a soft backlight. Because my desk is in a rather dark corner of the room and the lighting makes a lot here.

It’s a lot easier on the eyes than staring at a bright screen. Because the eye no longer has a single light source (my monitor), but has significantly more light on offer.

I also combine this LED light strip with a monitor lamp, which I also mounted on my right monitor. You can read why such a lamp is also recommended on MeinMMO:

Are there any disadvantages? I had to take my time setting it up at first. Because at first my cables from the mouse and keyboard got in the way and the rigid version cannot be glued to the monitor either. With flexible strips, I can quickly get to 30 euros at IKEA.

The second thing that might also bother you is the presentation. Such a loose light bar on the desk looks cheap at first glance. That hasn’t really bothered me so far, but I might buy the flexible version in the future. I can then stick this variant to the back of my monitor and then disappear from my tidy desk.

Other manufacturers also offer LED strips, but with more functions

Is this only available from IKEA? IKEA is not the only company offering such LED strips. You can get smart LED strips from various suppliers on Amazon, which you can control with a remote control or an app. Govee and Philips Hue are certainly the best-known providers:

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I deliberately avoided this option, such as app control, because I was only looking for a simple but effective solution for my desk. And I found the solution in this light bar.

Manufacturers such as Philips are now installing such LED strips in their televisions. My colleague from GameStar, Nils Raettig, is enthusiastic about Philips Ambilight and would like such a function to be available for gaming devices. Philips promises, for example, that Ambilight should counteract eye fatigue.