Smart lighting — with its modes, color changes, voice commands and more — is especially well fitted to the dorm room. As you’re picking out your dorm tech, we suggest you find a smart lamp that you like, too. It can be the perfect addition to your desk, bed, or the room as a whole … and we can help you pick the right one.
Below are our favorite smart lamps, keeping in mind dorm room budgets and usability. Our top pick is the highly affordable and colorful Marrado lamp, but don’t worry: This list includes something for everyone!
Marrado Bedside Lamp
This Marrado lamp is designed to sit by a bedside and provide … well, whatever kind of light you need. The LED light from this little smart lamp is activated via touch, allowing you to adjust the brightness and the color to whatever you prefer. Turn to your phone, and you can use a Bluetooth connection to play music from the lamp. The sound isn’t that great, but it’s good for ambient music while you’re busy doing other things (or falling asleep). The lamp also runs on an internal battery, making it portable for up to five hours (Marrado suggests taking it outside for an evening date on the grass, which isn’t the worst idea).
Finally, not only is the model very affordable, but it also has a lifetime warranty in case of damage, making it well-suited for dorm life. But hold on — we’re just beginning our list, and if you want something smarter, bigger, or brighter, keep on reading.
Lanmu Smart Table Lamp
There are other circular lamps out there, but few are quite as affordable as this 60-watt model by Lanmu, which is also stuffed with smart features. You can use Alexa or Google Assistant to control it, as well as download the app to customize the colors and brightness of the lamp to whatever you like. You can set schedules too, or just change the hue with your voice whenever you feel like. There’s also a built-in speaker on this model as well, so you can play soothing background music whenever you feel like. If you’re looking for a dorm lamp that can do a bit of everything, as well as serve as an attractive centerpiece, this may be your pick.
Philips Hue Wellness Lamp
For those with a larger budget who are more serious about picking a durable, useful smart lamp, consider the Philips Hue Wellness Lamp. Operate via the Hue app or by voice control with Alexa/Siri, this lamp can change color temperature and brightness to whatever level that you prefer, and you can quickly create schedules for the light based on your habits — set it to be a colder white in the day and a warmer glow at night, or adjust the appearance based on the seasons to give you just the effect that you want. It’s both functional and beautiful, no matter where you want to put it.
The big downside of this model is that you also need to purchase the Hue Hub to operate it. The side benefit of this is that you will also be ready to control any other Hue bulbs or lights you might want to buy for around the dorm (or in the future).
MoKo LED Desk Lamp
Maybe you aren’t that interested in showing off your lamp and tweaking colors all the time. Maybe you are looking for something with more utility, but still very high-tech. We recommend this serious LED desk lamp: It’s still adjustable if you want to control the color temperature or brightness level to whatever you like to study by, but it also has a lot of unique features designed for the busy student desk.
The lamp includes an extra USB port for charging your phone, but if you prefer wireless charging, then you may like this similar model from YTech. There are also plenty of rotation options to get just the angle you like, memory functions to remember your brightness/temperature settings, and an option for a three-minute delay until shutdown, which is useful if you’re leaving but still want it to stay on for a little longer. It also has an interesting vibration feedback when you operate the lamp and sleep mode, so you know that the touch controls are working.
Leonc Floor Lamp
On the other hand, maybe you’re looking for something bigger and brighter to really light up the space, and you’d prefer it look great, not just like another floor lamp. The Leonc Floor Lamp, while pricier than some of our other picks, is perfect for just such plans. It has a great 61-inch design, LED RGB bulbs that allow you to adjust the color to whatever you prefer, and set the brightness to any level you like to create the right mood. The bottom is steel-weighted to discourage tip-overs, too. There are no app controls for the lamp, but it does come with a remote control.
Geeni Prisma Smart LED Bulb Kit
There’s another smart lighting option for your dorm plans: You could use smart bulbs instead, which allow you to put the bulb in an existing socket and then control its brightness, color, scheduling, and so on. The problem is that these smart bulb kits are often expensive for the average dorm project. That makes Geeni’s version particularly attractive, as it is much more affordable than other options — while still offering plenty of smart features, including compatibility with Alexa.
Aukey Table Lamp
This Aukey lamp has an attractive price point, simple but elegant design, and handy little touch controls to switch between three brightness levels. You can switch between white light and a color of your choice for different events. Otherwise, this lamp keeps everything simple, while still serving multiple needs. It’s a good choice if you don’t want too many options and prefer rapid touch controls, as opposed to using yet another app for your lamp.
