It is a technology increasingly present in homes, schools, offices, and even festivities. The best brands, models, and accessories that are good to consider.
For the office, to teach a class or for the house: the mini portable projector is useful, practical, and increasingly accessible. For this reason, they have become an excellent option to set up a home theater, to enjoy a "large-scale" game, or to share travel photos with friends. We tell you How to choose a mini portable projector and join the trend.
The first thing we should know is that it is a technology that has evolved a lot. Image quality has increased considerably in recent years and this has made more and more people prefer them over televisions. This is because the screen size is much larger and that generates an almost cinematic experience.
The problem is that sometimes it is difficult to know how to choose a model that suits our needs. We tell you what issues you should evaluate.
What projector to buy
Today the offer is very wide and we can get good options without spending a fortune. The only thing we need is to follow some recommendations to make a good decision.
The key is to start by being clear about what use we are going to give it. An office kit is not the same as one for watching movies at home. Therefore, we must analyze the different existing devices and the different characteristics such as the size of the place where we are going to locate it, the amount of light, and the audience.
Types of Projector
There are models with very different functions. The most popular are:
- Cinema: It is an optical device that receives a video signal and projects it onto a screen in the form of an image. They work from light and the most modern ones can correct curves, smudges, and other inconsistencies through manual adjustments. These devices are widely used in conference rooms, classrooms, amphitheaters, and home cinema.
- Mini Portable: They are very comfortable but have the disadvantage of having a limitation in light power. Mini portable projector easy to carry. They are very useful for displaying information on-site to customers on small surfaces.
- LED: These fixtures work in the same way as a traditional one but take advantage of LED technology instead of using traditional lamps. They are very popular for their energy-saving capacity.
- Mini LED projector: They are very powerful, allowing you to watch movies and make large-scale presentations anywhere. Their small size allows them to be carried in a bag without problems.
Image quality
The second step is to make a detailed analysis of the different characteristics. What qualities to look at before buying the device.
- Resolution: This characteristic is essential and refers to the number of pixels that your device displays. How does it work? The greater the number of pixels, the greater the definition of the image. Depending on what we plan to use the device for, we can choose between square or widescreen format. It is recommended to choose a WXGA or 4K resolution with a rectangular appearance.
- Color: There are two basic color technologies DLP and LCD. It is recommended to opt for the first one since it offers a wider range of colors. Another important point to look at is the contrast, that is, the difference between the lightest and darkest points. The bigger the difference, the better. It is recommended to opt for devices that use thousands of micro-mirrors, since they avoid filtering colors and, consequently, decrease color degradation. It is also advised that you have a contrast of 10,000 to 1.
- Power: to achieve great image quality it is essential to consider the lumens that indicate how powerful the light emission is and analyze what the lighting is in the place where we are going to locate it.
- Functionality: it is essential that the equipment has USB inputs to connect to a PC or other devices directly. If we want to use the device to build a home theater, it is key to choose one with good light and great connectivity.
- Price: the useful life of this equipment is 7 to 10 years and, the technological life, 2 to 4 years. We must analyze the budget that we are going to allocate to the purchase taking into account these variables.
Purchasing a projector mount is not mandatory but allows the location of the fixture to not create a problem. Support is a structure made of iron whose function is to keep the device in place, providing stability and the possibility of adjusting the direction of the image.
The best compliment: the screen
It is impossible to take advantage of all the functionalities of the equipment if we do not have a screen that supports the same quality. We give you some tips to choose it:
Brand: There are several brands, models, and sizes that we can choose from depending on where we plan to locate the device. It is important to opt for a quality brand to make it last.
Cost: although it is not an expensive product, it is important to make a price comparison to choose the one that meets our needs and budget. Sometimes the very cheap is expensive.
Size: if we want to locate the device inside our home or office, the idea is that the screen does not exceed 2 meters wide or long. If, on the contrary, we have in mind to place it in an open space, we need at least 5 meters by 6 meters.
Electric screen: it is key to have a motorized screen that goes up and down at the touch of a button. This saves time, trouble, and possible breakage.
One thing to keep in mind is that some televisions with 4K technology and many inches can be a great solution if you do not have these devices and want to show something on the big screen. Many have begun to replace them with this option.
