BIOS: Technology Means Business

Building on the company’s projector line, Dell’s compact 1800MP (£519 ex. VAT) delivers relatively high quality image and text reproduction. The silver-and-black unit is therefore ideal for businesses, educators and even consumers looking for a highly portable XGA projector for general use. The only real downside is that the projector is a little noisy at 36dBA (normal operation)/31dBA (eco-mode).

Powered by Texas Instrument’s single-chip Digital Light Processing (DLP) technology, the 1800MP (244x211x115mm, 2.1kg) represents excellent value thanks to its solid XGA (1024x768 pixels) image performance, which is optimal for presentations in small-to-medium sized meeting rooms and classroom environments. It also features a brightness of 2100 ANSI lumens (maximum) and high contrast ratio of 2000:1, which are suitable for lights-on presentations.

Businesses and educational organisations will also benefit from the 1800MP’s connectivity options, allowing you to hook up a computer, DVD player or other source, plus additional features such as password protection and integrated zoom lens. The matching remote control is comfortable and offers access to most configuration options, but unfortunately there’s no laser pointer for assisting your presentations.

The projection lens has a technical specification of F/2.35-2.47, f=21.8-23.8mm, and can project a screen size of 34.7 to 304.9-inches from a projection distance of 1.5-to 12m). Image tweaking options include keystone correction up to 30 degrees (±15) vertical, and there’s a built-in 2-Watt speaker for those not intending to connect the projector to a set of external speakers.

The 1800MP features a reasonable selection of integrated video and audio ports, including dual VGA ports for simple switching from one presenter to another, therefore reducing set-up time in meetings, seminars and presentations. Other ports include audio-in and audio-out for connection to external speakers, S-Video in, composite video-in, RS-232, and USB remote. Noticeable omissions include DVI input and built-in wireless connectivity (either Wi-Fi or Bluetooth).

The 1800MP also supports a full range of television and video standards enabling personal home entertainment applications, as well as business uses. It supports NTSC, NTSC 4.43, PAL (B/D/G/H/I/M/N), SECAM (B/D/G/K/K1/L) and HDTV (480i/P; 576i/P, 720P; 1080i). It’s even desktop or ceiling mountable for front or rear projection, and there’s an eco-mode option for quieter operation that can extend the 200-Watt bulb life up to 3000 hours (typical bulb life 2500 hours).

There are also selectable presentation modes to get the most from the projector (PC Mode, sRGB Mode, Movie Mode, Game Mode, Custom Mode), and you also get a carrying case, remote control, VGA cable and power cord. Ventilation on the 1800MP is excellent, an important factor when you consider the potential cost of an overheated projector. One entire corner of the unit is a grid-patterned opening that resembles a fancy corner office. The opening lets air flow easily through the unit, which you can appreciate by putting your hand near it. This setup should contribute to longer bulb life and cooler system components. The unit is backed by a standard 2-year Next Business Day Whole Unit Exchange (90 days on bulb).

Dell’s 1800MP is great choice if you need to take your projector on the road and don’t know what kind of environment you’ll be presenting in - we could easily see images on our test screen before we even dimmed the lights. In our tests we found colour matching and registration were nearly perfect for all colours, although black images were a bit washed out, as the powerful light tended to bleed through slightly.

Also, finely shaded images, such as light pink over white, tended to be a little washed. Nevertheless, such light images are a rarity in daily business use, and the colour display was near perfect otherwise. And as you can automatically configure the contrast and white balance depending on your needs, setting the 1800MP makes a neat choice for PC image rendering, movie display or game playing. Having said that, when playing a DVD over an S-Video connection, the image was reasonably bright, with acceptable flesh tones, but colours were a little patchy. But this is a decidedly secondary application for a business projector. [8]

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