When BenQ reached out to us to trial their new laptop lightbar for remote and nomadic workers we were definitely excited to see what it had to offer.
What is it, I hear you ask.
The lightbar is effectively a portable lamp that easily fits onto the top of your laptop to be your perfect lighting companion whilst out on the road or travelling abroad.
It’s powered by a neat USB cord that plugs directly into your computer and comes with a small but sturdy plastic case that protects the lightbar whilst it’s no doubt wedged up against things in your rucksack.
What we like about the lightbar
The lightbar is dead easy to install, simply clip it onto the top of your laptop and plug in the USB cord. Once installed, and with your laptop switched on, the lightbar allows you to easily adjust the pitch at which it projects light. Amazingly, the lightbar has been created in such a way as to ensure that there is never any glare on your screen and you can easily set it to cast light directly down onto your laptop keyboard or more broadly across the surface you have your laptop on. This adaptability is great and we have never found that the light shines in our eyes or detracts in anyway from being able to get on with what we're working on.
As mentioned above the model we were sent came with a small durable plastic case that is perfect for transporting it around and taking it away on longer trips.
The lightbar not only fits well on our Macbook Pros but it also comes with some very helpful adjustments that allow you to change not only how bright the light is but also how blue or orange the shade of the light. This is excellent as it ensures you can find exactly the right setting for wherever you are and if you’re working in the evening allows you to dial back the blue light and feel like you’re working in the warmth of a cosy orange glow.
Things to look out for
The lightbar certainly works well, easy to operate and feels to us to be a robust piece of kit. The only thing we would look out for is that because the lamp is powered by the USB from your laptop it means that as soon as you turn your laptop off, the power drops and the light goes out. You’re back in the black until you turn your laptop on again.
All things considered though we think the portability gained by powering the lamp through the USB port is definitely worth the potential for finding yourself caught in the dark.
Who should use it
Digital nomads, frequent travellers and even students could benefit from the lightbar. It’s small size and ease to install makes it a doddle to use and we’ve found it useful when travelling between places where we can’t be guaranteed a quality desk light. It would also be a great addition to smaller home offices where you might only have a desk that can fit a single laptop.
The verdict
Overall we’ve enjoyed working in the warm evening glow of the BenQ Lightbar and if you’re the kind of remote worker who travels frequently then it could be the perfect travel lamp for you. It’s small, compact nature and powerful lighting makes it a versatile and useful addition to your travel bag and it also doubles up well as a strong substitute to a traditional desk light if you happen to be struggling for space.
To discover more check out BenQ’s website or get it from Amazon here.
