Digital Projector

[shih tzu faced]

Looking for a digital projector. Not something I know much about (same goes for most electrical gadgetry tbh), but can use Google so typed it in and was faced with an absolutely bewildering choice with prices seemingly all over the place.

It's just for still images (art projects), not really for tv viewing or anything like that. My main requirement is a good, sharp & clear image quality. It will be mainly plugged into my laptop; I presume a USB connector is pretty standard?

Is there a minimum image size these things will project? Is it just a case of physically placing the projector nearer to the surface where you want the image to appear?

I've also seen some mini projectors that fit in the palm of the hand. Are these any good or should I be looking at a full size one?

Any pointers you can give a noob will be gratefully received. Recommended makes and retailers; specific features to look for / avoid; how much to pay.

Many thanks in advance.

[mattley]

We had one of the little Acer's in the office the other week, and though I appreciate this isn't much good to you I was surprised at how crap it wasn't. We usually deal with quite big expensive permanent fitted unit's so my point's of reference are quite high.

As this is a new thing for you I'd suggest you got one of them which will enable you to establish it's strengths and weaknesses for your purposes. From there, as you've noticed it's a sliding scale where you pretty much get what you pay for.

[shih tzu faced]

Cheers mattley, that’s sound advice. I’ve heard of Acer which is a good start (there seems to be loads of oddly named stuff you can get direct from China - I’m not keen).

Thanks for your reply, very helpful. I’ll start looking specifically at Acer projectors and will see where my search takes me.

Was the Acer one that that you used one of these ‘mini’ projectors or was it full size?

Edit I’ve re-read your post confirming it was a mini one.

Cheers

[Benni]

Check out your graphic card, what is the max. resolution it can put out for the 2nd output ?
Go for a projector that has this size and aspect ratio ( 16:9, 16:10 etc) as native resolution ,
then there wil be no internal resizing neccessary.
As the projector will be used for "Art", will it be black & white or colour ?
Some can be colour-calibrated, but these are costly, on most you can play around with brightness,
the "gamma" correction and the saturation of the colours until it matches your screen,
or the canvas your artwork was done on the first time.

[shih tzu faced]

Thanks Benni

I'll have to look into the graphics card and the aspect ratio. I have no idea unfortunately... out of my depth already
Whenever anyone asks me a computer related question I just sort of freeze and panic!

No worries, a close family member is clued up on these things so I'll ask him to have a look.

I do get your meaning though and appreciate your help