Portable Digital Projector Review

Business projectors: Deciding what you need

At first glance, portable digital projectors designed for the business market seem to have much in common with their home-theater counterparts. However, a closer look reveals some very significant differences, including weight, screen aspect, brightness, contrast, resolution and price. This report focuses on digital projectors that shine brightest in the boardroom or on the road. Digital projectors are also becoming an increasingly popular option for home theaters, and that's especially true of those capable of displaying widescreen high-definition TV signals in their full resolution. In addition, home-theater projectors can display the largest high-definition images of all at the lowest cost-per-inch compared to other television technologies. See our separate report on home-theater projectors if you are more interested in a projector for your living room than for the conference room.

There are a number of excellent places to find reviews of business-class portable digital projectors. First and foremost are ProjectorCentral.com and ProjectorReviews.com. These two sites include lots of great background information, as well as in-depth reviews that sometimes go on for pages. Information about both business and entertainment projectors can be found at both sites.

Since business digital projectors are most typically used with computers to create detailed presentations, good reviews and information can also be found at computer-oriented magazines and websites, including PC Magazine, PC World, CNet.com and Laptop magazine. These publications, however, are more sporadic in their coverage. Consumer Reports has an article on home theater projectors, but doesn't address projectors for business use.

Pocket projectors

A new phenomenon in the projector market is ultra-portable projectors. They're sometimes referred to as pico or pocket projectors and weigh merely ounces. At first glance, these new projectors seem to be ideal for road warriors looking to keep weight and size to a minimum. However, they ask for some mighty big sacrifices in terms of brightness and resolution to achieve their small size, reducing their appeal for business applications in the eyes of many experts. One, the Optoma Pico PK101 (*Est. $400), doesn't even make a serious play for the business market as it lacks a PC interface.

The 3M MPro110 (*Est. $350) is a little more business-friendly, but its proprietary computer input requires an included adapter cable that reports say is short and very stiff, making placing the projector difficult. Brightness is another shortcoming, and is rated at just 9 lumens. According to Laptop magazine, that translates to a maximum "useful" image of no more than 18 inches. PC Magazine is a tad more generous, saying it "is bright enough to watch a 24-inch diagonal image comfortably in a darkened room for an extended period of time." The VGA (640 pixels by 480 pixels) native resolution is also not the greatest match for laptop computers.

Despite these and other shortcomings -- a halo around images, for example -- PC Magazine gives the 3M MPro110 projector a fairly good rating. Laptop magazine, on the other hand, has a different take: "Despite the 'Pro' in this device's name, it is clearly not appropriate for business use," writes reviewer Rich Malloy. Still, the ability to squeeze everything down to a package that measures just 2 inches by 4.5 inches by 0.9 inches and weighs less than 5.6 ounces is "a technological success."

The Dell M109S (*Est. $500) is a bit more successful. PC Magazine is sufficiently impressed to award it their Editors' Choice designation. The Dell M109S projector is a bit larger, however, and at 1.5 inches by 3.6 inches by 4.1 inches would strain most pockets. It's still lightweight at 12.8 ounces, though the power supply and connecting cables bump that up to closer to two pounds. Brightness is better than the mini projectors above, but its measured 51 lumens still falls far short of that produced by more traditional projectors. PC Magazine says that the maximum screen size is 40 inches in a dimly lit room, which also falls well short of what could be expected from a traditional business projector. The non-standard native resolution (858 pixels by 600 pixels) is close to SVGA, but different enough to soften image quality somewhat. The bottom line is that more traditional projectors are still a better choice for most business users, but if size and the wow factor are prime considerations, the Dell M109S at least puts in a credible performance.