The NEC NP510w Projector - White Knight Or White Trash?

The NEC NP510w is a portable LCD projector, and although it is not quite miniscule in size, they do provide you with a carry bag (yes, read into the sarcasm). This is a projector that is meant for making presentations and not for watching movies, so all you hardcore HD freaks can sit this one out. But if you do love MS PowerPoint and Excel, read on!

Design and Features
As the title clearly indicates, it’s a glossy white curvy box with intake vents at the front; quite a good-looking piece of equipment. Above the lens, you will find the manual focus and zoom adjustment controls. There are quite a few buttons on top of the projector for adjusting settings, navigation, volume control, etc. There also is an auto adjustment button, which calibrates the keystone and focus according to the distance. But you might want to adjust these settings manually, and the reason will be revealed in a bit.

One great thing about this projector is the number of input options available. Of course, there’s no HDMI (back off you HD lovers), but you will find DVI, VGA, S Video and component input options. Of course, this means you can connect two computers simultaneously, as well as switch between them using the remote. They’ve even provided a monitor output, so you can connect a monitor and save yourself some awkwardness while making your presentations. Oh yes, and there’s an Ethernet port as well, which means that you can also get yourself connected to the network. So now, you can just get those friendly system administrators to hook it up, and you’re ready to go.

The remote is fairly easy to use and has some nifty shortcuts, such as allowing you to switch between sources. Since this is an eco-friendly product, the remote also has an ‘Eco Mode’ button. Only 80% of the brightness is used with the Eco Mode on, which increases your precious lamp’s lifespan, as well as saves on power.

The NEC NP510w also has pretty OK audio capabilities, with its single mono, built in 7-watt speaker. However, if you want better sound, you can always get external speakers to hook up via the 3.5 mm jack.