ALAN DEXTER

Executive Editor

We need to have a word about LEDs, and their prevalence with gaming brands. For a long time, we resisted the excitement around them, because they don’t do anything where it matters most for us: performance. Still, even I’m a sucker for a good-looking, well-put-together system, so they definitely have a place. Question is, how should we rate such aesthetics?

The industry has largely taken this out of our hands, by not giving us the option to have gear without LEDs. If you don’t like them, turn them off. Frustrating, but it does give you something to tinker with….

Personally, I don’t care for LEDs; that’s partly due to how my various machines are positioned. The one in my home den is essentially hidden out of sight, so it’s irrelevant what it looks like. My main office PC is on a stack of drawers off to one side, so while it is visible, I tend to look at the screen, rather than gaze at its innards all day long, so I’m not too bothered here either. Possibly more relevant is the fact that I don’t care what my avatars look like in games. While my peers spend ages picking a particular look in their favorite games, I tend to hit “Random,” and go with it. They merely serve as a distraction from what the game is actually about. Maybe all those LEDs are lost on me for the same reason.