Quote Originally Posted by Weezard
In short, very little power is wasted in that resistor.
2 Watts wastage seems acceptable, the more leds you had on it the less significant that would be.

Now I look at the article properly I can see there are various different circuits described, the first being more in the way of an introductory "what not to do". Mainly I was just prejudiced by the unusually large resistor, should have read the whole thing first.

The second to last configuration reminds me of something I used to drive the backlight leds on a phone screen.

Very interesting, despite unfair first impression.