I am obsessed with LED/RGB lighting effects. To such a degree, it’s borderline unhealthy. Yes, I really am the worst sort of gamer cliché. Fancy lights bring me joy when it comes to PC peripherals, so I’m not going to apologize for this particular tech vice. What I will do, though, is heartily recommend that you definitely clean your mechanical keyboard.
Enabling LED lighting on a keyboard is a battery killer. The trouble is, so many prosumer/gaming boards lean in on said effects. Aesthetics undoubtedly matter in an age of tempered-glass PC cases that let you ogle every single component inside a rig. Yet when it comes to prettiness over practicality, the latter should always win out.
Here are some reasons you should most definitely disable LED lighting on your keyboard.
Why do LED lights drain battery life?
Explaining the downsides of lighting effects
Dave Meikleham \ MakeUseOf
I own two mechanical keyboards with LED lighting, and I adore both. Yet when it comes down to pure productivity and grinding out work, there’s no way I can justify fancy lighting over peripheral longevity.
On both of my boards, lighting absolutely slaughters battery life. I’ll get into the specifics of my setups shortly, but first, let me break down why LED effects are your keyboard’s worst enemy when it comes to staying power.
Unlike every intermittent key press you make while doom-scrolling your favorite browser of choice, when the LED is enabled, it’s constant. Sure, some keyboards support power-saving battery features when you drop to a certain level of juice (which I’ll also circle back to). The hard truth is, when it comes to gaming-focused keyboards that lean on lighting, you’re probably cutting battery life in half for some fancy effects you probably don’t need.
A quick, worst-case scenario I’ve just alluded to? My current keyboard can last over 80 hours if I dim its LED wizardry. If I decide to keep them on while typing out features for MUO, that number reduces to a semi-alarming 30 hours between charges.
Prettiness vs. performance
Explaining the downsides of lighting effects
Dave Meikleham \ MakeUseOf
Even though my current brand of keyboard wants me to type out my model number in ALL CAPS, I’m going to resist. The Epomaker X Aula F75 Max Tri-Mode wireless gaming keyboard is a terrific peripheral. A 75% form factor mechanical board, it works wonderfully with a $40 laptop accessory I never knew I needed.
The Aula F75 Max is also fairly unique in that it lets you see your exact battery life level at any given moment, thanks to the tiny screen at the top right of the board. And make no mistake: this keyboard really wants you to use LED effects.
My keyboard offers precisely 19 different LED effects. Yes… NINETEEN. That’s absurd. And yet, I’ve cycled through every single preset out of sheer curiosity. Some provide static lighting, others per-key touch, and then there are those that seem to have a lift on their own. Regardless of their use case, I can’t deny they are pretty.
They’re also in no way, shape, or form worth tanking your keyboard’s battery life over. With lighting disabled, 80 hours of unbroken typing are guaranteed. With LED brightness cranked to the max, anything over 25 hours of digit-pummeling work is a blessing.
The benefits of an LED keyboard
A light show isn’t always just for effect
This is a pretty specific scenario, but my Epomaker X Aula F75 Max is weird. If you’re reading this piece, I’m going to assume there’s a decent chance you know touch typing. All I can say is that if I didn’t know said technique, I’d be completely lost with my current board.
Unlike any other typing peripheral I’ve ever used, the Aula F75 Max does not have letters printed on top of its keycaps. Instead, they’re on the lower edge of the cap, and only really visible if LED lighting is enabled. If I didn’t know how to touch type, trying to work on my current board without an LED would be a complete nightmare.
As someone who regularly writes well into the night, I can appreciate the unintended benefits of LED lighting. My Alienware Pro wireless keyboard, which I regularly pair with a gaming laptop that worked surprisingly well as a workstation, has eye-illuminating effects. Yet if you can touch-type, superfluous LED keyboard effects should mostly go to sea.
Keyboard lighting ultimately isn’t worth it
Dave Meikleham \ MakeUseOf
I own a PC with all the fancy LED effects. As such, I’m never going to judge someone for building a showy, but perhaps less performant rig because they wanted to impress their under-geeky friends. What I will say when it comes to peripherals is that battery life is king. When it comes to your keyboard, shut the lights off and keep the juice going.
- Brand
-
Gigabyte
- GPU Speed
-
2.73 GHz
- Memory
-
16GB
- Power
-
360W TDP
- CUDA Cores
-
10,752
The Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5080 delivers next-generation performance for gaming and creative workloads, featuring advanced ray tracing, AI-enhanced graphics, and high-speed GDDR7 memory. Its robust cooling system ensures stable operation under load, while factory overclocking and modern connectivity make it ideal for high-resolution gaming, streaming, and demanding GPU-intensive tasks.
