Mini projector for mirroring the screen or watching movies

Question

I'm looking for home mini (or pocket) projector to connect to the laptop and mirror the screen in order to watch videos.

I have less requirements than this question and my budget is lower (ideally below $300/£200).

Requirements are:

• compatible with OS X (MacBook Pro)
• should be fairly small — mini- or pocket-size
• have a standard connection such as HDMI or MiniDP
• available in EU/UK/US

Answer 1

1. The main problem with pocket-size projectors is that they mostly rely on wireless connection rather than typical interfaces. What is more, low resolution can make subtitles unreadable.

2. If we are talking about mini projectors, I can suggest ZeleSouris UC40.

   Pros:

   • suit for home video playing
   • relatively small (20.1 x 15.3 x 6.7 cm; 998 g)
   • affordable price (~£60 on Amazon + free shipping)
   • multi-function input (HDMI support)
   • keystone correction
   • many available reviews - check this one

   Cons:

   • text display may be tiring for the eyes after a long time
   • fan is quite noisy
   • short power cable
   • quality of the user manual

This review may be especially helpful:

Maybe just me, but this was a serious faff to get set up. Firstly, you have to know how you are going to use this kit. I wanted to use my PC. I thought USB to USB but no, that does not work. HDMI cable is the way to go. Then once I got my hands on a cable, the picture was horrible! Then I faffed about some more and found it is the picture ratio that has to be just right. After all this, I get a decent picture. Better user manual would be a good idea. I will probably do a youtube video review/tutorial just to remind myself how to set this thing up.

I put a video onto a thumb stick and it played lovely. Hooked up an external hard drive that played well too. I also used it to display my ubuntu desktop. Text display is ok, but I would not like to have to read alot with it. I have my curtains pulled slightly on a bright day and it is plenty bright. One slight niggle is the power cable is very short so you do need an extension lead. The projector does make fan noise but I tend to mentally block it out once I'm watching a movie. I would say it is as loud as or slightly louder than my PC. The lense cover it came with does not stay on, in fact it is not the right cover for this projector. No problem for me as I'm not travelling with it. [...]

So to finish, if you have the money go for a high end model. But for what I paid for this I am very happy.