Razer reveals monitor light bar at CES & here’s why it’s more exciting than it sounds

Razer unveiled a new monitor light bar at CES 2024, but it might be more exciting than just being a strip of light you bolt onto your monitor, here’s why.

Razer has just revealed many products at CES, including a haptic gaming cushion, of all things. But, the thing that caught our eyes was the new monitor light bar, named the Razer Aether monitor light bar. While this might seem like a random strip of light you pop on your desk to save space, there’s more going on here that makes it a worthy rival to the BenQ Screenbar Halo, and we’re super excited to try one out.

Many cheap monitor lightbars out there have a single beam of white light that straps on top of your monitor, the Aether light bar allows you to play around with the company’s signature Chroma RGB, allowing for millions of colors to be displayed in presumably whatever configuration you want. Since it’s a gaming-focused product, you’ll also be able to strap it straight onto any curved monitor you have and offer capacitive touch controls.

But, that’s not all, the Razer Aether light bar doesn’t only possess a single beam of light: There are two, and that’s a crucial feature that many monitor lightbars miss.

Biased lighting is an eye-saver

Razer / Dexerto

Many monitor light bars offer the chance to light up your desk, but not a ton of them offer rear lighting. The reason why this is so crucial is that eyestrain can often set in after viewing a bright display, or bright area, against a dark background. While this might be great for those with ugly walls, it’s not fantastic for your eyes.

Luckily, the Razer Aether light bar also has rear LEDs that can offer biased lighting, evening out the amount of light across your setup, meaning that you’re not going to have any eyestrain issues while using it.

This alone immediately separates the Razer Aether light bar from a lot of its competition. Considering the expense of the BenQ Screenbar Halo, the only other monitor lightbar to offer this, Razer’s option is coming in at $129.99, which is $50 cheaper.

The Razer Aether monitor light bar will launch alongside other Razer smart lighting options, too. You can expect to get your hands on it in March 2024. We’ll be eagerly anticipating testing one to see if the rear lighting makes a difference while using our PCs in the small hours of the day.