With so many projectors on the market, how do you figure out which one is right for your needs and your budget? Let's answer that by looking at the things that matter.Lumens
This is probably the place to start, because the more lumens you want the more you pay. It's a huge cost determinant. We divided projectors up by price range, and you'll notice it's pretty evenly divided by lumens. Rule of thumb: the larger the room, the more lumens you need. Start with an average classroom or small conference room, and an economy model is fine. If the room holds 30 people, you need about 2200 lumens. Add more people, and you need a bigger room and thus more lumens.
Portability
Most projectors are fairly portable. We sell ultraportables, which are light and compact. If you do presentations on the road, you will want one of these.
Native resolution
All of the projectors we sell have ample resolution. But if you want to torture people with highly intricate slides, you'll need higher resolution. Generally, if a res of 1,024-by-768 isn't enough then it's your slides that need changing not the projector
Connectivity
We sell only projectors that use today's standards. That means a full range of connectivity (to a laptop or other source device) options. There's also the related aspect of networking. If you need to monitor and maintain several projectors via your network, then you'll need a projector with Ethernet connectivity.
Audio output
The typical slideshow is best without sound. That's because, Microsoft language abuse notwithstanding, the presentation is the act of the person talking to the audience. It is not the PowerPoint file. Sound effects detract from a presentation, rather than add to it.
But maybe you are putting on an A/V show, rather than giving a presentation. For example, you are playing a movie clip. Or maybe you have slides with bird images and are playing their songs so people can understand how each bird sounds. For a smallish room, built-in audio is probably the ticket. For a large room, you need a large sound system.
Throw distance
This can be terribly confusing. So, let's make it not so! You've heard the expression, "Cast a shadow," right? If you stand between the sun and a building, you will cast (throw) your shadow (image) onto the wall of that building.
With a projector, a "short throw" means you can cast a full-size image from a short distance. If you're going to be up close to the screen with your projector, then a short throw is what you need. Throw is typically expressed as a ratio. That ratio is the distance between the projector and screen, divided by width of the image.
So, if you want to project a 10 foot image your projector will need to be 15 feet away from the screen if it has a throw ratio of 1.5:1. Generally, images are much less than 10 ft. Think of the last presentation you attended in which images were projected onto a screen. The image was probably 4 ft wide, and the projector was probably 6 feet away. |
