Litigation Support

Update on Pico Projectors

By Blake Boyd

Until this week pico projectors have only been reviewed at electronic shows and by a lucky few. Well now they’re you can get one in your own hands. If you want to waste your hard earned cash.




Gizmodo has has great hands on review of the 3M MPro110 in which they claim:

It supports up to 1024×768 resolution input, but it doesn’t display at a resolution greater than 640×480. Ironically, the fuzziness is more of a problem for the businesspeople for whom the product was intended?I didn’t suffer much watching slightly blurred DVD rips or cable-box TV at the full 40 inches, though like most projectors, near-pitch darkness is required.

640×480?! That is pretty much worthless for use in the real world. Great for a toy, and great to show off the latest and greatest, but come on, cell phone screens are getting higher resolutions. And at $350 you might as well spend a couple hundred more and buy a ultra-portable projector that has at least some power behind it.





Engadget also has a review of another pico projector that recently hit the market; Kairen’s Projector X Pro920M, and they agree that it’s small, but doesn’t have any power behind it:

Measuring a diminutive 3.5 x 1.73 x 3.15-inches, we hear it’s got 10 lumens of brightness, a contrast ratio of 100:1, and a resolution of 640 x 480. The little projector… um, projects a 25-inch image from of a distance of up to 1 meter. It’s going to be on sale in January 2009 in Japan for $400

10 lumens?! 100:1 Contrast?! and 640×480?! for $400?!!?





Laptopmag has a review out on the Dell M109S. While this isn’t truely a pico projector, it’s small. But it faces the same issues that all of these projectors pose. It’s just not bright enough:

We doubt the Dell M109S projector will put a crimp in sales of larger and significantly brighter models, but weighing less than 2 pounds even with its power adapter it could be very successful in ultra-mobile applications. We see it linking nicely with, say, an Apple iPod, for impromptu presentations and movie showings. At $499, the M109S is relatively expensive considering its limited luminosity, but its small size marks a big step forward for ultraportable projectors.

For and extra $49 you can get a Dell 1409x. Yes it’s slightly larger, but 2500 lumens and 1024×768 resolution is bright enough to display your presentation in the brightest of rooms. Is there really a question?



While I desperately await the day when pico projectors hit the 500-1000 lumen mark, we’re not even close. If you are in the need of a ultra portable projector, I highly recommend you stay away from these until further advances take place. I would highly recommend you search out reviews of projectors that fit your needs, there are plenty of lightweight and small projectors that will actually display your content.





Full post as published by The Trial Technologist's View on November 12, 2008 (boomark / email).