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3M Micro Professional Projector MPro110

Zack Stern — Wed, 20 May 2009 10:41:56 -0500

It’s only the length of an iPhone; just don’t leave it in a back pocket and sit down.

The MPro110 could easily slip into a shirt pocket or stow away anywhere. Its candy-bar shape echoes its simplicity: There’s only an on/off switch, port for composite video, and physical focus adjustment. A small power adapter drives the unit, even recharging its included battery for truly mobile situations. We only got 50 minutes out of the battery--and there’s no warning as it’s running out--but it’s nice for short use.

The 640x480-pixel images are pushed out with LEDs, making this projector fear ambient light like a vampire. In a dark room, it kicks out enough brightness, playing a projection of about 3 feet. However, even then, colors start to fade; this unit never seems saturated enough. With normal room lighting, the projection is useless, and it’s inadequate for movies--versus high-contrast, static presentations--in a dimmed setting.

Dell M109S

Zack Stern — Mon, 11 May 2009 03:45:00 -0500

The boxy, black design easily slips into any bag.

The M109S looks like a full-sized projector that met a shrink-ray. The darling, fist-sized unit can pack along anywhere. Even with the modest-sized power adapter--about the same volume as the entire projector--the device can fit in the corner of a laptop bag.

858x600-pixel images look fairly good through the VGA or composite cable. However, the LED light source lacks the brightness of a traditional bulb. (But it’s rated to outlast that technology, working up to 10,000 hours.) In a lit room, we could barely make out video thrown larger than 3 feet, since the image dims with size. However, presentations with simple graphics looked better, and the screen was much more legible with the lights dimmed.

In a dark room, the M109S gives a better, clearer range of colors, although it still can lack sharpness. Even with 4- or 5-feet images, it carries enough brightness.

NEC NP62

Zack Stern — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 11:14:54 -0500

The bulb design brings the highs and lows of traditional projectors.

The 3.7-pound NP62 is only about as big as two hardcover books. It’s a traditional projector, with a consumable bulb rated for up to 2,500 hours of use. While bulbs can be pricey--a replacement costs $299--this projector easily overpowers the other two.

Bright images remain clear and legible in a lit room, look great in a dimmed setting, and show crisp detail in the dark. Colors look fairly bright in any of those settings--although best when dark. But compared to a similarly priced, full-sized projector, you’re still paying for size; its images can’t compare to a bigger device.

The 1,024x768-pixel images show a lot of detail, especially when connecting through the VGA port. The projector also includes the versatile extras of S-Video and composite RCA ports, so it’ll work with nearly any source.

A few other extras can be ideal for presentations or just sharing impromptu photos. Speakers are a nice touch, although hardly push volume above the whirring fan. And a USB port or included Bluetooth adapter can directly play photos from a flash drive or other device.

Gefen USB to DVI Adapter

Zack Stern — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 03:21:00 -0500

If you haven’t been searching for something like this, trust us, it hasn’t been looking for you.

For years, nearly every Mac has been able to connect to a second display. Laptops and iMacs include video-out ports, and Mac Pros ship with video cards that connect to two displays by default. The low-end Mac Mini is the only one with a single video plug. With that in mind, the Gefen USB to DVI adapter fills a narrow niche, turning a USB port into a video connector for an extra display. The process works, but it’s so burdened by problems, that we can only recommend it to the truly desperate.

The high-speed USB adapter connects to displays through a DVI plug, and it also includes a VGA adapter for older hardware. Just install the software, and plug everything in. In our tests, this was the best aspect of the product. System Preferences added the second display without any problem, and we could even set it to rotate the screen in 90-degree increments for vertical installations and other special situations. Since USB is hot-swappable, we connected and disconnected the extra display without having to turn the Mac off.

The adapter supports resolutions up to 1,600 by 1,200 pixels, but we can’t imagine using it regularly because of its abysmal refresh rate. At resolutions higher than 800 by 600 pixels, you only get a 60-hertz refresh rate. This means that a CRT will noticeably flicker during use, causing us strain and even mild queasiness. (LCDs are still legible at this rate.) And don’t bother using it for much more than text apps; the adapter doesn’t support OpenGL acceleration. OpenGL is a core component of OS X, and without acceleration, high-res movies stutter, iMovie won’t launch, iPhoto slide shows don’t work, and the interface is generally choppy, among other problems. Gefen says it’s relying on Apple to add support for OpenGL acceleration, so it couldn’t say when—or with certainty—that’ll happen.

Wacom Cintiq 12WX

Zack Stern — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:11:32 -0500

The Cintiq’s built-in LCD shows you what you’re doing right on the tablet.

In graphics applications, traditional drawing tablets give exceptional control beyond mere mousing. But artists have to learn how to move the stylus on the tablet surface, watching the results far away on a disconnected monitor. This separation is jarring at first, and some people never overcome the feeling of being a puppeteer with a pen. Instead, the Cintiq 12WX crams a 12.1-inch, 1,200-by-800-pixel LCD underneath the touch-sensitive surface so that digital ink seems to flow directly from the stylus. This solution usually mimics the feel of a sketchbook, teasing serious home artists and pros on a budget.

We first noticed the Cintiq’s small, light form when setting it up. A single cable runs from the 16-inch-wide device to a breakout box that has power, monitor, and USB plugs. The 4.4-pound tablet looks great flat on a desk, and we even felt comfortable holding it in a lap. After trying several positions, we most often kept it angled up slightly on its built-in easel. This pivoting stand is supposed to tilt it to a range of angles, but we could only get it to stay put at the highest and lowest positions.

With the software and hardware connection working, we ran through the calibration process. We tapped two targets with the battery-free, cordless stylus and began sketching. Painter X (4 out of 5 stars), Photoshop CS3 (5 out of 5 stars), and other art applications supported the Cintiq perfectly. We used a heavier touch to draw thicker, darker lines. Certain brushes even read the angle at which you hold the stylus, giving calligraphy-like results. Editing photos with the Cintiq also worked well, since we could control the opacity and other crucial variables by touch. And in all of the programs, we could physically flip the stylus over and use its pressure-sensitive eraser end to immediately scrub out lines.

The comfortable Cintiq stylus includes a rocker-switch for Control-click and other immediate options, and the tablet has two groups of five physical buttons. Those can be programmed to execute key commands, although it’s best to leave one to swap between pointer movement on a remote monitor and the Cintiq. (Or you can use the Cintiq without another display at all.) A touch-sensitive strip adjacent to these two banks of buttons controls zoom by default. It’s a nice idea, swiping a finger to change perspective, but we grazed it too often, popping the view in suddenly. We much preferred the circular design on the Bamboo line’s zoom control; repetitive swipes felt tiresome versus an iPod-scrollwheel–like jog. Thankfully, you can turn off the entire zoom strip if you like.

But our main complaint is that the onscreen cursor drifted slightly from the stylus’s tip point when we approached the very outer edges of the tablet. Anywhere inside a centimeter from the edge, the stylus tip was tracked perfectly, but close to the edges, the cursor wandered several millimeters away. We tried watching only the cursor and disregarding the stylus tip—which worked—but violated the point of the tablet.

The bottom line. The vast majority of the Cintiq 12WX surface feels just like drawing or painting in a sketchbook. The edge-tracking issue disappoints, but the tablet will otherwise delight pros on a small budget and enthusiasts with money to spend.

COMPANY: Wacom

CONTACT: www.wacom.com

PRICE: $999

REQUIREMENTS: Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later, DVI or VGA connection, USB port

Drawing and retouching onscreen is as fluid as an analog tool. Slim, manageable tablet shape. Battery-free, cordless stylus registers pressure and angle. Sharp, clear LCD panel.

At edges, onscreen cursor drifts from stylus tip. Why-bother software bundle includes outdated programs. Jerky scroll strip registers accidental touches.

The World is Matte (and Glossy) -- 19-inch Monitor Shoot-Out

Roman Loyola — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 12:01:14 -0600

Whether you’re a longtime power user or a nimble Mac newbie, you can never have too much screen space. A bigger screen saves you from pulling your hair out as you try to move through your open windows—Leopard’s Spaces can help corral a bunch of windows, but it’s only a partial solution. And what about all those pictures you shot with your camera, the videos you made in iMovie, and the movie you bought from the iTunes Store? They’re all meant to shine on a big screen. It’s time to run free, friend.

We’ll be up front with you. If you’re still working on a standard 15-inch display, it’s time to upgrade. Sure you can go to 17 inches, but to really watch movies as they were intended, go widescreen, where the display is more like a movie-screen orientation than a square, TV-shaped one.

But 17-inch widescreen displays can feel small too. To feel like you’re truly upgrading your screen size, a 19-inch widescreen display floats our boats. Even better, you can easily find a 19-inch widescreen for under $300. To help you choose, we look at six of them here—three with glossy screens and three with matte screens. We put them through the paces in our lab to find out which offers the best performance for your dollar. And if you already have a big display or an iMac, don’t feel left out. Read on, and you might convince yourself to finally set up two displays on your Mac so you can have more room to work

Like matte? You’ll like the VX1940w.

Of the three matte displays in our roundup, the ViewSonic VX1940w came out on top. It had the best image quality of the matte group, though it fell a tad short of being the overall image quality winner out of the six displays. The VX1940w’s color reproduction is smooth and accurate, although when we looked at photos, the skin tones were a little on the red side—but not enough to make our friends and family look like they forgot to put on sunscreen. When it came to gradients in black-and-white photos, it was smooth sailing. We found a little bit of blurring when reading large and small text, but it didn’t fool us into thinking we needed new glasses. We noticed that the brightness was a little uneven around the edges of the display, but this doesn’t hinder the overall performance.

The VX1940w only has tilt adjustments so you can move the screen backward and forward, and unfortunately, adjusting the height means stacking the display on an old encyclopedia you found in the attic (we’re partial to volume M—it seems to be just the right thickness). It’s about 4.5 inches from a desktop to the bottom of the display. The onscreen controls are easy to use, though the seemingly helpful Auto Image Adjust option in the control panel isn’t available when you’re using a DVI connection, because ViewSonic says the display self-adjusts when in digital mode. And if cable mess drives you crazy, then you’ll absolutely love the cable clips on the display’s neck.

We didn’t see any streaking while watching our test DVDs of Transformers and Lawrence of Arabia. We had very infrequent screen stutter while playing first-person shooter games. According to ViewSonic, the VX1940w has a 2-millisecond response time. It’s also the only display in our roundup that had a native 1,680-by-1,050-pixel resolution (the other five are 1,440 by 900 pixels).

COMPANY: ViewSonic

CONTACT: www.viewsonic.com

PRICE: $285

REQUIREMENTS: DVI

Great overall image quality. Easy-to-use onscreen controls. 1,680-by-1,050-pixel native resolution.

Some blurring on small text. Some uneven brightness along

Works fine as a secondary display

Company logos don’t usually influence our ratings (unless the logo plays a major role in the design of a product), and Westinghouse’s outdated logo doesn’t affect this display’s rating. But in one of our testing setups, we connected the L1975NW to an iMac, and Westinghouse’s bubble-serif W logo looked outdated next to the iMac’s black, glossy Apple logo.

The matte L1975NW’s mediocre image quality means we wouldn’t use it as a primary display, but it’s good enough as a second display on an Mac Pro or iMac where you can place palettes for Photoshop or other apps, or even email and iChat windows. Skin tones in the photos we looked at on the display lacked the smoothness and consistency we saw in the VX1940w. Gradients in black-and-white photos had some obvious banding, but business charts and graphs looked nice. Text wasn’t as sharp as we would have liked, but it wasn’t bad to look at, either.

The L1975NW only has tilt adjustments, and the bottom of the screen is about 4 inches from the desktop. Six hidden buttons at the bottom of the display are the controls. One button lets you quickly switch between Picture, Text, and Economy modes, which adjust the brightness and contrast for the appropriate type of screen images.

We were a bit surprised when we watched Lawrence of Arabia and Transformers on the L1975NW. Both movies looked nice in general, and shadow detail was quite good. That darn problem with skin tones appeared again, though. When we played games, we didn’t have any stuttering—a good thing. The L1975NW has a 5-millisecond response time and a 1,440-by-900-pixel native resolution.

The LCD has built-in downward-firing speakers at the bottom. You won’t get good bass response and warmth, but the sound is powerful enough if you’re sitting in front of the display. Unfortunately, there’s no instant access to the display’s volume controls.

COMPANY: Westinghouse

CONTACT: www.westinghousedigital.com

PRICE: $279

REQUIREMENTS: DVI

Handles movies well. Quick switching of picture modes.

Unimpressive image quality. Text lacks crispness.

If price is all that matters to you, then you’ll be happy with the DYLM1986.

We really, really wanted to like the Soyo DYLM1986, because you can pick it up for well below its list price—we found it online for under $200. But in the end, you’ll make some significant sacrifices to save some money.

The DYLM1986’s image quality finished at the bottom of all the displays. The matte screen looked washed out, colors lacked punch, and the splotchy skin tones in photos disappointed. Black-and-white photos actually looked fine, and we didn’t notice much banding. Text quality also finished last, and DVD playback looked too light. We didn’t notice any screen stutter in our games.

The display has tilt adjustment (forward/backward) only, and the bottom of the screen is about 3.5 inches from the desk. We found the button layout for the controls awkward—we frustratingly kept pushing the power button by mistake, which would shut off the display and reset the controls, forcing us to start all over again.

The side-firing speakers built into the DYLM1986 sound like a cheap AM transistor radio. Turn the volume up to full blast and you’ll get an earful of distortion.

COMPANY: Soyo

CONTACT: www.soyousa.com

PRICE: $249

REQUIREMENTS:DVI

Cheap.

Awkward button placement for controls. Ho-hum image quality.

We liked almost everything about the Samsung SyncMaster 932GW’s image quality. We liked how the glossy display produced smooth, consistent skin tones in photographs. We liked how it beautifully handled black-and-white photos. We also liked the clean text, at any font size. The only thing we didn’t like was the shadow detail—we found the SyncMaster 932GW’s shadows to be too dark and sometimes muddy.

The bottom of the display is about 3.5 inches from the desktop, and the neck
has tilt adjustment. The controls are complete and easy to use, but you should download the Mac version of Samsung’s MagicTune software (the bundled MagicTune CD has Windows software only) instead of using the hardware controls. Not only does MagicTune let you make screen adjustments with your mouse, but it also has calibration tools that are similar to the Display Calibrator Assistant in OS X. Then there’s the MagicBright tool within MagicTune, which provides 5 preset brightness settings that you select based on what’s on your screen. For example, a Text setting sets the brightness for reading text, and there’s a Cinema setting for watching movies.

Speaking of movies, the 932GW handled movies without any streaking. We saw consistent colors while watching Transformers and Lawrence of Arabia, but sometimes the picture was too dark. Our gameplay wasn’t interrupted by any stutter, either.

COMPANY: Samsung

CONTACT: www.samsung.com

PRICE: $269.99

REQUIREMENTS:DVI

Good overall image quality. Excellent text. Great MagicTune software.

Dark movie playback. Dark shadow detail in photos.

Images have extra pop on the AccuSync 19WMGX’s glossy screen.

The dazzling image quality of the NEC AccuSync LCD 19WMGX makes it a top performer in this roundup. Its color accuracy is very good, though it tends to lean a little bit on the oversaturated side. Photos and text look crisp and clean. Gradients in black-and-white pictures were smooth. And of all the displays, the glossy 19WMGX had the best movie clarity, which helped us enjoy Lawrence of Arabia and Transformers even more. We did notice some screen stutter while playing games, but not enough to affect gameplay. The native resolution is 1,440 by 900 pixels.

Like most of the displays in this roundup, the display stand has only tilt adjustment. The one drawback we found with the 19WMGX was the controls—they’re sparse. The only image adjustments are for brightness, contrast, and color temperature. But that’s OK, because the picture looks pretty good right out of the box.

The 19WMGX has a pair of forward-firing speakers at the bottom of the display. They sound clear, but they don’t have a lot of audio depth—the bass and highs are weak. But the sound is loud enough to fill a small office.

COMPANY:NEC

CONTACT: www.necdisplay.com

PRICE: $249.99

REQUIREMENTS:DVI

Great overall image quality. Best movie clarity of the group.

Sparse onscreen controls.

The w1907’s aluminum stand isn’t as elegant as an iMac’s or Cinema Display’s, but it does swivel and tilt.

Of all the displays in our roundup, the glossy HP w1907 strikes us as the most PC-looking—and considering that it’s from HP, that’s not a surprise. Its metal stand certainly lacks a Mac sensibility as it props the display 3.25 inches from the desktop, but at least it swivels and tilts. The odd gap between the bezel and the top of the screen makes us wonder how we’ll clean out the dust that collects in there. And the power button atop the display seems misplaced, or at least goes against tradition.

However, the w1907’s design doesn’t heavily influence our thoughts on the display. Image is almost everything, and the w1907 has nice, lively color. Our photos looked good, but we preferred the skin tone reproduction from the other two glossy displays. We also saw noticeable banding in our black-and-white photo test. Text looked good at large sizes, but at a 12-point size, we noticed some blurring.

While we heavily favor Samsung’s MagicTune display software, HP’s built-in display controls should be the model for the LCD industry. HP’s control interface looks like a well-designed separate application, not like the BIOS-like controls common on LCDs. You breeze through the settings effortlessly, and there are quick image presets for text, photos, and gaming.

COMPANY: HP

CONTACT: www.hp.com

PRICE: $230

REQUIREMENTS: DVI

A model for display controls. Lively color.

Small text looked jaggy.

NEC Multisync LCD225WXM

Roman Loyola — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 13:46:43 -0600

While 22 inches may sound big, nowadays it's really not.

Our initial thought when we took the wraps off of the LCD225WXM: Man, a 22-inch LCD sure is a big display. But then we realized that over the tech ages, the standard screen size has grown. We vividly remember the day when our 17-inch Apple display cost more than $1,000, but nowadays, 19-inch displays are in vogue. But 22-inchers like the LCD225WXM are ready to take their turn. It’s all just a matter of price, and at $390, the LCD225WXM is right in the ballpark, especially when you consider that Apple’s 20-inch Cinema Display is $599.

Plug in the LCD225WXM, and you quickly notice why someone would want to pay a couple hundred dollars more for that pricier display - the LCD225WXM color looks just so-so out of the box. It does look accurate, however, and since the LCD225WXM is designed as a business display, it handles charts, text, and other business graphics nicely. It’s just not home-entertainment center quality - for that, you may want to head up closer to that $600 bar.

We also noticed banding on gradients and a lack of smoothness that will turn off imaging experts. DVD movies look good on the widescreen display. The LCD225WXM has built-in speakers that sound like built-in display speakers - a bit tinny, weak bass, but loud enough to fill a small home office while you’re doing boring filing chores. The display has DVI-D and VGA connectors, and the stand tilts, swivels, and also has height adjustment.

COMPANY: NEC

CONTACT: www.necdisplay.com

PRICE: $389.99

REQUIREMENTS: DVI video connection

Good price for a 22-inch screen. Good for business use.

Flat colors.

ViewSonic PJ258D ViewDock Projector

James Ellerbeck — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 12:47:53 -0600

With a brightness rating of 2,000 lumens at this price, consider the iPod playback a bonus.

Every company seems to be looking for ways to stick an iPod dock into their product, but in the case of the PJ258D ViewDock Projector, there’s a good reason why you’d want it - so you can play your 5G iPod movies on a big screen (the PJ258D isn’t compatible with the new iPod classic, iPod nano, or iPod touch). This projector streams video straight from the 5G iPod and then beams it out at a bright 2,000 lumens and a 1,024-by-768-pixel XGA resolution.

Waitaminute, you say - 1,078 by 768? Think that’s too low to natively run 1080p high-definition video? We agree, if you were playing HD content from a source other than your iPod. But for your iPod, the resolution works fine. And as for the brightness, it’s bright enough for a semi-lit room that fits about 30 people.

The control buttons are inconveniently located on the back instead of the top, but the remote control helps. The zoom is a slider rather than a wheel, but some practice with it helps you recognize its nuances. A screw lock underneath the projector lets you mount it on the ceiling. Screw legs let you angle the unit while it rests on a table.

You can use the PJ258D for business presentations, and if you want to use your iPod to store your slides instead of your Mac notebook, you have to save your Keynote slides as JPEGs. That also means you can’t embed video into your slides. You can even use the projector in your home entertainment center. It has composite, component, and S-Video inputs for other devices, such as a DVD player.

The bottom line. We like the video quality and features of the PJ258D.

COMPANY: ViewSonic

CONTACT: www.viewsonic.com

PRICE: $1,399

REQUIREMENTS: Video-capable iPod, DVI-to-15-pin video adapter

Full 5G iPod integration. Nice design. Good brightness.

Not compatible with current iPods. Fiddly onboard control. We prefer a zoom wheel to a zoom slider. No widescreen mode.