keef476:
I mean that I am using the Arduino to dim or fade on a loop.
Leds are Ok -just prefer the Gow bulbs .
Warm White LEDs are not a bad emulation of an incandescent bulb. You are of course referring to using "AnalogWrite" and noting that the steps are more obvious on the lower levels with a LED. That is of course, due to two effects, one being the thermal inertia of the incandescent bulb, but the other is the linearity of the LED as a light source. At the lower levels of the PWM, the incandescent bulb will not be glowing at all, so you of course, cannot discern the steps. If you do want to dim LEDs, you need to use software PWM with a higher resolution than 256 steps.
keef476:
I just had a look at the Pro Mini - seems ok but needs adapter boards to program.
Size looks good for my embedded project.
That is precisely the point. You use the adaptor only for programming, then remove it and you are encumbered with neither its bulk nor its current draw.