What's up with the bright blue lights?

[SaltyFish]

A lot of the computer parts I've bought lately that have LEDs are using a bright blue color. I can't say I like it; not due to Blue Light Hazard or such; but simply just how blue light hurts my eyes when gaming/watching movies in a dimly lit room (red is a much better color for such). It's gotten to the point where I tape paper over the lights, especially the ones that tend to blink (e.g. routers, and hard drive enclosures). Have blue LEDs become more cost efficient lately or is it just a trend?

 

[Frick]

I've assumed it's because people (ie those damned youngsters) think it looks cool. I had a Fractal Design Core 3000 case and that LED in the power button was actually blinding if you happened to look right at it. Which you did when reaching for the power button.

 

[silentbogo]

Had similar thing with my streaming box. Hid it behind my TV, so it won't burn my retina and brainz with it

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

This has been going on for at least the past 8 years. I'd it's on the decline a bit.

 

[silentbogo]

I sure hope so...
It looks cool, but the annoyance beats all the aesthetical pleasure.

 

[lilhasselhoffer]

So, the reason blue LEDs are such a pain is two fold. First, the technology has a more finite life and a very distinct aesthetic value. Second, the human eye is designed to see reds and greens, but blues produce enough energy to get peoples' attention.

Blue LEDs are a pain to produce. The materials which primarily emit blue light frequencies when excited are minimal, and more costly than green and red. This equated, initially, to only very expensive units offering blue lights. As the price dropped, more and more people made their systems "eye-catching" by including blue lights. Profound irony being what it is, the blue light became monotonous. That monotony produced a glut of cheaper blue lights, which led to having them incorporated in a ton of hardware. As the glut of inventory is used we'll see a return to the friendlier reds, oranges, and other lower frequencies in the electro-magnetic spectrum.

Next, let's play a game of trivia. What is the only color you'll never see plants in, on any world with life similar to our own? The answer is blue. The fact is that blue light is higher frequency, and thus contains more energy than other colors. As the colors of an object that you observe are those that it rejects, being blue would cut off a huge amount of potential energy. Humanity has adapted to our environment, so blue lights are viewed as intense and unnatural. If you ever wondered why Star Trek had red alerts, this is to denote danger without placing strain on human eyes. As hardware manufacturers want you to pay attention to their crap, they choose blue to catch the human eye. Thank you Sol, for being the smaller size that you are.

 

[Vario]

Nice post^^^

Can't stand blue LEDs usually. I have some dark blue ones on a string like christmas lights I can turn on and off with a flick from NZXT brand that are fun to use and was easy to install, its more of a purple. I usually rip them out of fans and don't buy power supplies with lights on principle.