Geeks.com has sent over yet another cool little gadget from their extensive "collection" for us to check out. Their mini USB 2.0 LED projector is small enough to fit in your pocket, but big enough to create a 50" display of your computer's images and videos projected on to a wall, projector screen, or whiteboard.



The promotional image above shows the projector and its tripod, and in this image I have to say it reminds me of something from Stars Wars; perhaps a mix of an obscure droid and one of the walkers. Before taking a look at the mini USB 2.0 LED projector provided for review, let's look at some published data on it, as taken from the product page on the Geeks.com website.

Features and Specifications:

» Color: Black
» Compact, portable design
» USB 2.0 interface
» Display format: LCoS panel
» Resolution: 640 x 480
» Aspect ratio: 4:3
» Contrast ratio: 100:1
» Projector lens: F-number 125
» Screen size: 20 ~ 50 inches
» Projection distance: 1.31 ~ 6.56 feet (0.4 ~ 2 meters)
» Lighting source: LED lamp
» LED power: 3-watts
» LED life: up to 20,000 hours
» Brightness: 15 (about 210 ANSI lumen)
» Includes flat-folding tripod mount
» I/O Ports: Mini-USB 2.0 (for power and video)
» Unit Dimensions: 2.3 x 1.45 x 2.45-inches (H x W x D, approximate)
» Package Includes:
   » Mini USB 2.0 LED Projector
   » Tripod
   » USB cable
   » Driver CD
» Product Requirements:
   » Intel Atom 1.6 GHz processor or higher
   » 20 MB free HDD
   » Windows 2000/XP/Vista
   » Available USB 2.0 port
   » CD-ROM drive (for driver CD)

The technology used in this projector is LCoS (Liquid crystal on silicon); something that seemed to be ready for widespread use about 5 years ago. This "micro-display" technology is similar to DLP, except without the mirrors. While it is possible for this technology to project high definition images with very impressive contrast ratios, what we see here is a very basic implementation with a resolution of just 640x480 and a rather low contrast ratio of 100:1.

Many items arrive with Geeks.com tagged with the term "generic", but this was the very first one where I could not determine a manufacturer from clues on the packaging, on the product, or online. For that reason, the review is titled "Geeks.com Mini USB 2.0 LED Projector with Tripod" as there is no other company that could be found to attribute this product to.

This item is currently sold out at Geeks.com, and the nature of the business means that you don't really know if or when to expect it back in stock. But, Geeks.com's inventory does have other cheap digital projectors to check out.