Lab

Business projectors

A projector is one of those peripherals that's either regarded with great desire or apathy. At home, it's responsible for movie displays at a size most plasma and LCD owners can only dream of. At work, it's responsible for the less exciting task of displaying presentations in meetings.

Yet a business projector is an essential tool for the modern office and can be put to more uses than just torture by PowerPoint slide. A thoughtfully put together combination of active demonstration and movie clips can bring life to meetings that might otherwise bore your co-workers to death.

And the brilliant image quality and brightness your masterpiece deserves are available for surprisingly little cash these days. This month, we have projectors for less than £500 (excluding VAT) with hugely bright displays; up to 3,000 ANSI lumens in the case of one product, which is bright enough to use in a well-lit room without a hint of eye strain.

At this price, 4:3 XGA displays are still the norm, but that's easily enough for most businesses' needs, and you usually get plenty of input options, too. HDMI and DVI connections are common at this price point, while some even boast component via RCA connections for top-quality video display.

On the following pages, we've not only put nine projectors through our thorough testing procedures to find the best one for your business, but also evaluated a number of pop-up screens so you can be sure your presentations always look perfect, no matter where you are.