The best desk lamps for eyes and computer work

The best desk lamps are an essential item for anyone who works, studies or games a lot at home. They are a small yet very effective desk accessory that creates ambient and eye-friendly light to suit various needs.

Home office spaces became the norm for many over the pandemic much like home gym spaces did. If you invested in your fitness and bought home workout equipment like one of the best treadmills then why wouldn’t you do the same for your workspace? 

Bad lighting and staring at a screen for too long can be a recipe for giving yourself a sore head or causing your eyes to strain. This is why picking out one of the best desk lamps for eyes can really transform your home working environment. There are a few things to consider before committing to one option. With lots of the best desk lamps, you are able to adjust the color of the light and tweak the brightness to your liking. Other more advanced and pricier models can track the sun’s position in the sky and adjust the light settings accordingly, and some even offer a special blue-tinted light to help fight SAD symptoms. This is handy if you don’t already own one of the best SAD lamps in your home. If you like to keep things simple there are also more subtle, cheaper desk lamps that still help to create a pleasant desk space for less.

To help you find the perfect lighting companion for your desk we’ve rounded up the best desk lamps below. Have a think about what height, angle, bulb, and settings you’d like in a desk lamp as well as budget, and scroll through our top picks below.

The best desk lamps you can buy right now

With so many features crammed into its sleek modern frame, this LED lamp from TaoTronics would be a great buy even at twice the price. Designed to be gentle on your eyes while working and reading it has five colour options and seven brightness levels.

The LED bulb colours vary from bright white to warm yellow, which is great if you want to change the mood from working to relaxing. Adjusting the brightness and colour is really simple with a swipe of the finger on the base.

The base isn’t especially heavy and can topple if accidentally knocked, but we love how you can rotate the head side to side through 90 degrees and vertically through 135 degrees, and the added bonus of having a USB port for gadget charging finishes this great all-round design.

We’re used to Dyson reinventing everyday appliances, so it comes as no surprise they’ve created a desk lamp packed with a ridiculous amount of smart technology.

The Lightcycle Morph is a wi-fi and Bluetooth connected task light, ambient light, and indirect light all in one that tracks the sun’s position in the sky and adjusts the lamp’s colour temperature and brightness throughout the day. If a cloud covers the sun, the lamp compensates! 

It can even adjust the light according to your age - as we get older, we need up to four times more light - the work you’re doing and can even help adjust your mood.

It’s easy to see why the light costs so much, but it works wonderfully producing the perfect light for most occasions. It’s also flawlessly made in metal and can be tilted and rotated meaning it can switch easily from a task to ambient light.

The small ribbed 11cm diameter shade and grey angled stand are made from recycled plastic which also means this is one of the more sustainable options as well as the cheapest.

You can’t angle the light, but we found the angle great for reading and working on a laptop. The lamp doesn't come with a bulb (would you expect it to, at this price?), but these can be bought separately. Ikea recommends its E14 bulb, which has a lovely opaque finish. While the light isn’t especially bright, it does offer a warm soft glow. Brighter bulbs are also available. 

Anglepoise has been making practical and beautiful desk lights since 1932 and rightly deserve ‘design icon’ status and this combination of beautiful design, practicality and build quality has continued with the launch of the new Type 80 design.

Supplied with a long lasting replaceable 10W LED bulb the 16cm-diameter shade works brilliantly as a dedicated task light, but by including a small halo ring towards the back of the shade it lets light spill through onto a wall, which creates a lovely effect after the home office has shut for the night. 

The cable is hidden inside the frame to help cleaner lines and the on/off switch is integrated seamlessly into the shade. Available in matte Rose Pink, Pistachio, Grey Mist and Matte Black each is made from powder coated metal and will last a lifetime.

While the Lumie Desklamp is unlikely to win many awards for style, what it lacks in good looks it more than makes up for with health enhancing features. The ultra bright blue tinted light has been designed to help treat SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), lift mood when you’re stuck at your desk and also boost concentration. 

To benefit from the mood boosting lamp it needs to be directed into your face for 30-60minutes per day, but you don’t need to look directly at it. It takes some getting used to when you’re sitting at a desk, but the light does flood your workstation with light which is great in winter.  

The brightness of the light is adjustable - four settings - although the touch sensitive controls are a bit of a faff as you can inadvertently switch it off, but you’ll appreciate the ability to dim the light at times as the maximum 10,000 lux is seriously bright. 

A superbly practical lamp design if you have a tiny desk or just hate clutter, because this compact model boasts 5W wireless charging for your smartphone or tablet and a built-in Bluetooth speaker for streaming your songs as you work. 

Impressively the LED lamp has three modes to choose from; bright (good for task lighting), warm and cool. And while the built-in 3W Bluetooth speaker can’t compete with a proper hi-fi or standalone speaker, it is loud and clear enough for a quiet office. 

The Groove-e Apollo is also USB powered, meaning you can plug it into your laptop or a portable power bank and take it with you wherever you need to work and the flexible next makes positioning the light easy.

Why choosing the best desk lamp is so important

If you pick the right one, the best desk lamps can help ease eye strain and aid concentration - particularly important given that The Vision Council (opens in new tab) reports 59% of American adults experience digital eye strain. This eye strain common in office workers includes symptoms like sore or dry eyes, headaches and migraines, and blurred vision. 

This has become even more common over the last 18 months, as the College of Opthometrists (opens in new tab) has dubbed the phenomenon "coronavision". We're all inside more, looking at screens more, and 22% of study respondents believed their use of screens, and vision, was getting worse over lockdown. 

A good desk lamp can create the optimal viewing environment, emitting natural-seeming light to illuminate your workstation and providing brightness on dark days. Yellow lights don't emit blue wavelengths you get from screens, and it's this "blue light" that has been linked with increased stress and disruption to our circadian rhythms, interfering with our sleep. 

Blue light has also been shown in studies to stimulate the production of cortisol in the body. Known as the "stress hormone", cortisol increases our feelings of stress, activating our flight-or-flight response, and encourages our body to store fat more easily. 

An eye-friendly computer setting can kibosh blue-light's harmful effects, just like an e-reader can. A lower brightness screen coupled with a strong light is the best way to see what you're doing without affecting your health over long periods. A stylish desk lap also elevates the style of your workstation, helping to create a space where you feel comfortable working all day.

How to choose the best desk lamp for your home office

Our pick of the best desk lamp for home working is the TaoTronics LED Desk Lamp, thanks to its seven brightness levels, adjustability, and value. However, if money is no object, the Dyson Lightcycle Morph is hard to beat, boasting smart features that automatically adjust the brightness according to the time of day - further helping save you from the dreaded eye strain.

The main use of a desk lamp is to provide practical task lighting for when you need to concentrate on a particular area for writing, typing, or drawing. However, if you have squeezed an office into a living area, the desk lamp can also provide ambient lighting for after work hours, helping you to create a calmer, more relaxing space. 

But what to look for? Here are a few factors to consider:

Size

There’s no solid rule about the size of lamp you choose, but if it takes up valuable work space you know it’s too big. Many of the latest LED models are incredibly slim yet powerful. Meanwhile, clip-on designs help save desk space if you can attach them to a nearby shelf.

Light source

Often lamps that feature traditional screw-in and bayonet bulbs don’t come with one supplied, so you’ll need to budget for these. While potentially annoying at the time, buying separately does allow you to choose the brightness and color temperature. 

Meanwhile, lamps with fixed LED bulbs are great value and have impressive dimmable options, but bear in mind that if one bulb breaks then the lamp is often irreparable.

Brightness

As for the power and brightness of a bulb or lamp, you need to look out for two figures; lumens (lm) and kelvins (k). 

Lumens measure how much light you are getting from a bulb; the more lumens the brighter the light. Kelvins, meanwhile, represent the color temperature of a bulb. 

Around 2700k is considered a warm 'soft' white, while 4000 - 5000k is a much brighter, cooler light. At the top end of the scale, anything over 5000k is akin to daylight. 

Soft white light is generally best for avoiding eye strain over long periods of time, whilst brighter cool light should be used in short bursts.

Positioning

Speaking of eye strain, another factor to consider is your lamp's positioning. "Reduce glare and reflections where possible by making sure the screen is pointed away from light sources," advises Charlotte Cook (opens in new tab), Optometrist and Clinical Development Coach at Bayfields Opticians and Audiologists (opens in new tab). You also want to avoid light shining directly into your eyes. 

Models that allow you to adjust the angle of your lamp come in useful here, and have the added benefit of providing targeted illumination when you have a specific job at hand.

SAD lamps

Finally, lamps specially designed to treat seasonal affective disorder (SAD) - such as the medically-certified Lumie Desklamp - can help boost your energy levels, especially when the nights draw in. We've rounded up more of the best SAD lamps, if that's specifically what you're looking for. 

Can lighting cause headaches?

It’s true that certain kinds of bright and flickering light can cause headaches and are to be avoided as much as possible while you’re working – fluorescent lights are often to blame, though you probably don’t have these at home. The blue light emitted from a computer screen is known to interfere with our sleep patterns and should be switched off (or use an app to take out the blues) as the evening draws on but light in your home office can also help or hinder your eye - and head - health. 

Blue-green light causes the most photophobia (opens in new tab), a sensitivity to light that can cause headaches, migraines, and tension headaches. When choosing a desk lamp, look for one that has a gentle yellow colour that can counteract the glare of blue light and help you avoid headaches, and consider adding a yellow-toned shade to the main room light, too.