Windows 11 is set to get a handful of new features over the next couple of months thanks to the update to version 23H2. Among them is a feature called Dynamic Lighting, which is built into the Settings app and will allow users to control the RGB lighting on their devices using a centralized interface.

To my surprise, however, I've seen some people label this as bloatware, claiming that it will never work with every peripheral, so you'll have to use third-party apps anyway. Of course, you could also argue that RGB is superfluous and has no business being built into Windows in the first place.

However, I disagree. I believe that adding RGB controls to Windows 11 is beneficial in more ways than one.

Dynamic Lighting can make using third-party apps easier

The biggest argument in favor of Dynamic Lighting is the centralization of the interface and the reduced need for third-party apps, especially when you have devices from a lot of different manufacturers. This page in the Windows 11 Settings app will bring all your devices together, meaning you can apply the same effects to all of them (assuming they support them) and achieve a uniform look regardless of the brands you use. It also reduces friction because all of these third-party apps usually come with a lot more bloatware and unnecessary features. It's a hassle to get them installed, deal with pop-ups and prompts, and have all of them using up resources in the background. With Dynamic Lighting, you only need one.

In fact, a solution for this already exists with OpenRGB, but that, too, is a third-party app, and I'd be willing to bet most people have never even heard of it. It works, and from my understanding, it works quite well, but having a built-in feature is always going to be more accessible to most general consumers.

"If you build it, they will come"

The initial sentiment towards Dynamic Lighting seems to be pretty negative, thanks in large part to the limited device support that's currently available for Windows Insiders. It's true that only Razer mice and keyboards are supported right now, except for the Microsoft Pro IntelliMouse and promised support for a couple of Asus devices.

However, this is obviously going to grow over time, and Microsoft has promised as much, with commitments from a few other brands, including Acer, HP, and Logitech, which covers a good chunk of device makers already. I'd expect even more to join once the feature is fully available.

I think making the argument that it will never support every device is pretty rash, considering the feature is still only available to Insiders. On top of that, it downplays the future-proofing aspect of a feature like this. A lot of devices may not have been designed with native Windows 11 RGB controls in mind, but that doesn't mean future devices won't be.

Some 15 years ago, my dad had a Toshiba laptop that had a proprietary face sign-in feature that didn't even use infrared sensors; it just relied on the terrible RGB webcam on the laptop. That setup would never be eligible for support with Windows Hello, the biometric authentication feature Microsoft introduced in Windows 10, and I suspect many types of biometric authentication that were in use at the time never made that transition. Not to mention that, prior to Windows Hello, not that many laptops had biometric authentication in the first place.

And yet, Windows Hello is now pretty much a standard feature on any mid-range or high-end laptop. It's not just for businesses or a small niche anymore — even gaming laptops have these sensors now. This likely would never have happened if Microsoft didn't step up to offer a specific platform that every OEM could easily target and aim to implement.

I could easily see Dynamic Lighting doing the same thing for RGB, and that's something to be excited about.

It could make laptops more fun, too

It's also more than just peripherals that could benefit from Dynamic Lighting. We also have to look at PC components and, arguably more important, laptops themselves. RGB has been a staple of gaming laptops for a while, but it's never really grown beyond that, and I think part of the reason is that most companies probably don't want to add another app to their laptops just for the sake of controlling RGB. With a unifying platform, I think many more laptops could implement RGB in smaller ways, like on the keyboard.

This isn't some wild statement, either. Look at the HP Dragonfly Pro and Dragonfly Pro Chromebook; why is it that only the Chromebook version has an RGB-backlit keyboard? It's not like RGB keyboards were a staple of Chromebooks before. Regardless, the lights are controllable through the ChromeOS Settings app — no dedicated apps required. Google built RGB controls into ChromeOS a while back, and while we saw them on a bunch of cloud gaming laptops, the HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook isn't really meant for that. RGB was implemented because it's fun and adds a dash of personality, and I suspect it would have been in the Windows version if that feature was built into the OS itself.

You may say it's unnecessary, and it is, but as I said, it's fun, and I think many laptops are definitely missing that factor. If Dynamic Lighting helps change that, I'm all for it.

There's still a lot to improve

As hopeful as I am for the future of Dynamic Lighting, I do have to acknowledge that it's not great right now. Not only are there very few supported devices, but it actually doesn't seem to work all that well yet. When I tried it with my Razer Ornata V2 keyboard, I noticed that the colors shown on the keyboard were often far from what the UI indicated in Windows 11. There's clearly work to be done to ensure that colors are properly displayed on these devices so that users don't need those third-party apps anymore.

What's more, the amount of customization options is a bit limited, too, though Microsoft has already made some big improvements during testing. The initial implementation didn't support many animated effects, but now there are a few to choose from. Still, you can only pick two colors for multi-color effects, and the range of animations is fairly limited.

I suspect, to some extent, third-party apps will have advantages for a while to come, but hopefully, Microsoft will add better multi-color effects in the future, along with per-zone and per-key RGB controls for supported devices. Actually, Google just introduced per-zone RGB controls as a hidden flag in a recent ChromeOS update, so Microsoft already has something to aspire to there. I'm excited about the potential future of RGB on Windows, and I'll be more than happy to see more devices embrace it thanks to Dynamic Lighting.