Acer K10 portable projector

The Acer K10 is an LED-based portable projector. With 100 ANSI lumens and a 1000:1 contrast ratio, it has the specifications to get by in dim lighting, but in daylight it will struggle.

The Acer K10 is a similar size to the BenQ Joybee GP1 and it projects an 858x600 SVGA image. Any recent PC will be able to output this resolution without any hassles; our Dell Inspiron Mini 9 running Windows 7 automatically selected the correct resolution when we connected it. The Acer K10 portable projector has a more professional look than the Joybee GP1. Its a slick black finish makes the K10 a good match for a notebook like the Lenovo Ideapad S10-2.

The Acer K10 is very simple, with a VGA port for hooking up computers and analog video devices and a composite video port. The only other port is for the DC power input. The power brick connecting to this projector is a little large and bulky for our liking, weighing more than the projector itself.

The Acer K10 boasts a 100 ANSI lumen brightness count. If you're in a dim room this is enough to get by, but in daylight or a regular office environment the low brightness level makes viewing images difficult. We're keen to see more powerful projectors in the future that are similar to the K10 but address what is currently a crippling flaw.

If you are in ideal conditions, the Acer K10 has reasonable image quality. With a projection distance of 0.6-2.4m it can throw a projected image size of 38cm to 152cm; a manual focus adjustment allows near-enough focus but lacks the accuracy of an electronic adjustment system. In a dark room the 1000:1 contrast ratio allows acceptable levels of detail to be seen in dark or bright areas of an image. We would be happy watching a movie on the Acer K10 if lighting conditions were spot-on.

Colour accuracy isn't fantastic, but this is true of most cheap DLP projectors. One thing to note is that image quality and contrast drop off significantly at higher brightness levels — after around half-way on the brightness slider we noticed that colours washed out and lost their vibrancy.

The Acer K10 portable projector has a lamp life of 20000 hours thanks to its LED lighting. This means you probably won't ever have to change the lamp during the projector's serviceable life — if it's being used by a traveller we'd expect it to fall apart before the lamp wears out. Fan noise is acceptable, but louder than we would have liked (a product of packing a bright lamp into a super-compact body).

Acer's K10 portable LED projector is an interesting product. It's small and in the right conditions it provides a serviceable picture. It's by no means perfect, but will appeal to early adopters, travellers and gadget geeks.

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