Windows 11 currently offers little reason to upgrade from Windows 10, especially for gamers, who can stay on their old OS without missing out on dedicated features. Only recently, Microsoft released DirectStorage capability on Windows 11, which speeds up load times a bit, but only one compatible game has been released at the moment (Forspoken), but soon those with RGB LEDs on their PCs could get a very good reason to upgrade. Microsoft plans to integrate control of lights in computers directly from the operating system, without dedicated apps.
RGB lights on PCs could be configured directly from Windows 11 soon
It’s hard these days to find high-performance PC components or gaming peripherals without RGB lights. Those who have built PCs and bought various mice or keyboards have also noticed, however, that they are each controlled separately by various manufacturer apps, which are often not compatible with each other. Standards like ASUS Aura or Corsair’s iCUE have emerged, but it’s still quite complicated to find components whose LEDs can all be controlled from one place.
Microsoft wants to simplify this process, as options for controlling RGB LEDs have been found in the settings menus of some test versions of Windows 11. Basically, you’ll be able to set up your computer’s lighting and peripherals from one place, making it easier to sync them together, and, importantly, you’ll be able to do it without installing multiple dedicated apps.
New settings for device lighting make an appearance in build 25295. Is this the beginning of the end for low quality RGB gamer gear apps? 🎮 The spec for this is from 2018 and references to the feature have been around for years. Not cancelled after all 🥳https://t.co/oG4JbKsoeB pic.twitter.com/bMtxCH8REo
– Albacore (@thebookisclosed) February 10, 2023
Sure, gaming computers have high specs, and running setup applications in the background doesn’t affect gaming performance too much, but various background processes might monitor user activity and conflict with other applications, leading to various errors from time to time.
What the Windows feature will not do, however, is provide advanced control for other product functions. For example, you’ll be able to change the LED lighting on a mouse, but you won’t have access to functions like macros or DPI settings directly from Windows. You’ll still have to run the official app for such changes. But after setup, you won’t have to let it run in the background to keep the lighting profiles.