BenQ PB2240

Some projector manufacturers sacrifice features when building ultra-compact projectors, but this is not the case with Benq's PB2240. The Benq PB2240 ultra-compact DLP projector is minute, with a footprint slightly less than an A4 page, yet it boasts a rated brightness of 2000 ANSI lumens as well as a contrast ratio of 2000:1. The result is a bright and vivid image, from an easy- to-use projector.

The PB2240's enclosure is made of hardened plastic, silver on top and black on the sides. The front and back of the machine are basically ventilation grilles, with the hot air being exhausted from the rear. Two internal 5cm fans cool the unit, which produces quite a bit of heat. Running constantly, these fans produce a sound level of around 36dB. This is quite loud for a projector, and could be annoying when watching movies at a low volume, but the machine sound would be almost negligible in places with general ambient noise (such as in an office).

The input sockets located at the back of the unit, and include: S-Video, RGB, audio-in, USB and composite video. When a new video source is plugged in, the projector automatically detects the source and selects it for on-screen viewing. If more than one source is plugged in at a time, you can access them by hitting the 'source' button located on the remote or through the onboard controls located on the top of the projector.

The menu is simple and intuitive and can be navigated using cursor keys on the control. Advanced menu features can be accessed through this menu, which exposes features such as colour presets (as well as manual tuning), aspect ratio (4:3 or 16:9), keystoning, lamp temperature control and mirror controls. The mirror controls allow the projector to be set up in a variety of configurations, including front floor and ceiling projection, as well as rear floor and ceiling projection.

The inbuilt DLP chip runs at a native resolution of 1024 x 768, but the image can be scaled to 1280 x 1024. Wide-screen (16:9) images are letterboxed, and don't occupy the entire screen. Projectors that natively support computer aspect ratios (4:3) often make this sacrifice.

Computer users may find the included presentation tool helpful, as it functions as a laser pointer and remote control cursor keypad. The size of a remote control, the presentation tool assists in remotely changing slides in PowerPoint. It interacts with the computer through a USB thumbdrive-sized receiver.

Running the projector in a variety of ambient light conditions, the PB2240 showed exceptional image quality. Naturally, the results were best in dark conditions, with bright colours suffering no aberrations or colour reproduction problems. Even in conditions with a fair amount of ambient light, the PB2240 projected astoundingly bright full-colour images. This may be credited to the projector's rated brightness of 2000 ANSI lumens.

After operation, the power-down sequence takes about 90 seconds, in which the internal fans cool down the lamp.