Final Thoughts on the ASUS ROG Aura Monitor Light Bar
As I said at the beginning of this review I actually quite prefer light bars if I’m looking for desk lighting for my setup. They easily sit on top of your monitor out of the way and give you a really nice down-glow which is great if you are reading or need your desk illuminated for any other reason.
When it comes to just the desk light on the ROG Aura Monitor Light Bar it is excellent. First you can easily adjust the brightness and color temperature and it is very bright. I would say you really don’t need it much past 50% brightness. Also the light is designed to minimize glare and I did not notice any glare on my monitor at all when using the light.
The rear-facing RGB lighting was a bit disappointing to me. It just did not seem bright enough. On top of that there was no brightness control at all.
It was nice that you have software control for the light bar using the ASUS DisplayWidget software. This software is pretty lightweight and easy to use. I do wish if I wanted to I could control the light bar within Armoury Crate, I do already have other ASUS products so it would have been nice to just have one piece of software for all of my ASUS devices. Now you can use Armoury Crate to sync the light bar’s RGB lighting to the rest of your ASUS devices.
When it comes to pricing the ROG Aura Monitor Light Bar is first launched at $169, but with tariffs is it now selling at our favorite online retailer for $199. I just don’t see how ASUS is justifying this price. The main desk light is great, but the back-facing RGB lighting is extremely weak. There are plenty of light bars that offer similar performance for under $100 and then you could get either just RGB strips or other lighting for the back of your monitor and it will still end up being far less expensive than this light bar. Overall ThinkComputers gives the ASUS ROG Aura Monitor Light Bar a 7 out of 10 score.
Pros:
– Easy to install
– Excellent main light with brightness and color temperature control
– Works on both curved and straight monitors
– Software control
– Can sync back-facing RGB with other ASUS products
Cons:
– Price
– Back-facing RGB lighting is extremely weak
– Can’t control the main light within Armoury Crate, you need to use the DisplayWidget software
