Multimedia projectors, like most electronics, are shrinking fast. Features once reserved for very expensive conference room projectors are being crammed into ultralight projectors. They're getting light enough and durable enough to go on the road, too, and even finding their way into homes as alternatives to home theater systems. Snap a multimedia projector into your laptop, and it's movie night!

Cover in this guide to buying and using a multimedia projector:

1. Multimedia projector resolution by use
2. How to know if your office multimedia projector is bright enough for your needs
3. Competing types of multimedia projector engine types
4. From ultraportable multimedia projectors to conference room multimedia projectors and beyond

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Understand how much of multimedia projector you need

One of the basic measures of a multimedia projector is resolution, or how many pixels it can show on a screen. You can always pay more for more pixels, but the projector won't necessarily be better for your purposes.

I recommend: The lowest resolution office multimedia projector will be 800 x 600 pixels (known as SVGA), then 1024 x 768 (XGA), 1280 x 1024 (SXGA), and finally 1280 x 720 (WXGA), although the actual pixel counts vary by manufacturer. The WXGA standard was developed for widescreen movies, while the other standards are more appropriate for presentations. See detail on these differences at ProjectorPoint and ProjectorCentral. You'll find a listing of projectors and projector supplies, including projector rentals, at Business.com.

Brightness can vary on multimedia projectors

Pixels help, but the other big factor in the quality of the image is how much light is being shot and for how far. An office multimedia projector that will rarely leave a boardroom can be a cheaper, medium strength model, while a multimedia projector installed in a theater or used in a room lit with daylight will need maximum firepower.

I recommend: Multimedia projector makers measure brightness in lumens, which range from 700 to 2,500 or more. For most business uses, much more than 1,600 lumens isn't necessary, but it can be a matter of taste. A nifty color-coded selection chart on office multimedia projector lumens is at ProjectorPeople.

Multimedia projector technologies, a quick look in the mirror

Multimedia projectors vary in what is called 'engine type,' essentially what makes the image turn digital information into light. These are LCD (liquid crystal display), DLP (digital light processing) and LCoS (liquid crystal on silicon).

I recommend: An LCD multimedia projector sends light through a crystal. DLP uses tiny mirrors to "bounce" the light out of the projector. LCoS combines the two technologies. An LCD multimedia projector is the most commonly sold, yet a DLP multimedia projector provides better color resolution. See a technical guide on office multimedia projectors at Infocomm.org. See a list of presentation projector vendors by brand at Business.com

Ultralight, conference room and fixed installation multimedia projectors

Multimedia projector makers have split the market into three basic kinds of multimedia projector customers: those who travel, those who don't as much, and those who expect to permanently install hardware. Buying the right multimedia projector is often a matter of deciding first who you are as a projector user.

I recommend: The ultralight multimedia projector will weigh from four to six pounds, about the same as a laptop. A conference room multimedia projector is heavier and a lot more money, several thousand dollars from some models, but you get much more projector, too, in brightness and resolution. Fixed installion multimedia projectors are the workhorses. See models and prices at multimedia projector vendors including Acer, InFocus, Epson, Sharp, Optoma, Hitachi, Panasonic, Toshiba, ViewSonic and HP. There are more options at the Business.com listings on fixed installation projectors and portable projectors.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Multimedia projectors are not maintenance-free. Bulbs burn out after a few thousand hours and are expensive to replace. Take that cost into consideration when pricing multimedia projectors.
• •  Most multimedia projectors are a tradeoff of between price, portability and quality. Be sure to buy enough multimedia projector without buying far too much. Check first your computer's maximum resolution before buying, too. More resolution than you can produce is a waste of money.
• •  Look carefully at ports on the back of your multimedia projector. You should be able to easily connect a laptop, but are there enough of the right connections for your TV or video input?