TECH REPORT | John Brandon

4 Great New Projectors

A model for every purpose, blackout shades optional

Shine a Light The new generation of projectors works in the brightest rooms.

Courtesy company

Shine a Light The new generation of projectors works in the brightest rooms.

 

If you're still fumbling with shades before presentations, it may be time to invest in a new projector. The latest models are so bright, they produce crisp images even with the shades up. We put four of them to the PowerPoint test.

Best For Large Rooms: Sanyo PLC-XM150

Our test PowerPoint presentation looked crisp and colorful on this 6,000-lumen projector, which is bright enough for use in a large, well-lit room. Instead of repositioning the hefty 21-pound unit to line it up on a screen, you can use a remote to adjust the lens. The lamp lasts 3,000 hours in eco-mode.
COST: $5,460

Best For Narrating Videos: Mitsubishi XD600U

This sleek white projector, which boasts 4,500 lumens, projected a clear, vibrant image in a brightly lit room. The lamp lasts 2,000 hours longer than the one on the Sanyo. The 7.9-pound device also has two audio inputs, allowing you to play a video and narrate it with a microphone.
COST: $2,995

Best For Tight Spaces: BenQ MP772ST

Ideal for small conference rooms, this compact, 7.7-pound "short throw" projector sits 3 feet from a screen and projects images upward instead of across the room. At 2,500 lumens, the image was bright during our test, but not as crisp as that of the Sanyo and Mitsubishi models. The BenQ's lamp lasts 4,000 hours in eco-mode.
COST: $1,099

Best For Business Travel: HP Notebook projection Companion

Designed for the road warrior, this palm-size projector weighs less than a pound. The 100-lumen LED lamp was not particularly vivid, but it lasts a whopping 10,000 hours. The projector comes with a tripod for leveling the image on the screen. Unlike the other models we tested, it has no speaker.
COST: $499

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John Brandon is a contributing editor at Inc. magazine and writes the Tech Trends column in every issue. He also writes the Tech Report column for Inc.com. @jmbrandonbb