Business projector help?

November 18, 2008 6:19 AM

My Executive Director wants a fancy new LCD projector. Something small, and with the possibility of direct USB support. He's got this idea that he *should* be able to put a file on a USB key and then just plug it into the projector, and not need a laptop to present. This strikes me as a scary proposition, one fraught with the possibility of failure. The thing is, I only have my own skepticism, no hard experience. Can anyone out there provide stories of experiences with this type of projector? Any pros or cons? Recommended projectors?
posted by Richat to technology (9 comments total)

If he wants to show powerpoint presentations on it, then the projector will have to have a copy of Powerpoint loaded onto it. Which means having a copy of Windows loaded onto it. Which, assuming such a thing exists, will mean it'll be pretty expensive compared with others that don't require $hundreds of licences for software...
posted by Cantdosleepy at 6:26 AM on November 18, 2008

Uh yeah but Windows CE & re-coded Open Office?
posted by crapmatic at 6:32 AM on November 18, 2008

Some quick googling says this: Epson EMP-1715c. Might try to find some reviews on it.
posted by deezil at 6:35 AM on November 18, 2008

I would be concerned on what happens when someone plugs in a drive with an office 2007 file or wants to run a flash presentation. Or a visio file. Or a project file.
posted by damn dirty ape at 6:44 AM on November 18, 2008

Also, the only ones Ive seen just play jpeg and mpegs.
posted by damn dirty ape at 6:46 AM on November 18, 2008

yeah, damn dirty ape, that's kinda the issue I see. I've got a sales rep that is recommending a number of different solutions, but I was hoping to hear if anyone has seen the sort of compatibility issues that I'm afraid of!
posted by Richat at 6:50 AM on November 18, 2008

"I am sorry , but projectors don't support that".
posted by SirStan at 7:41 AM on November 18, 2008

I don't think you can get an all-in-one-box solution. You can scale your presentation gear down to very small. Consider this and this.
posted by b1tr0t at 7:42 AM on November 18, 2008

If you want to store your slides on something smaller than a laptop - which you probably already have - then an ipod (via iphoto) might fit the bill - the slides are going to have to be converted into jpegs first.
posted by rongorongo at 9:18 AM on November 18, 2008