BenQ W1100

The biggest challenge facing the BenQ W1100 is that it's playing in a very crowded market. However, with a great complement of connectivity options including two HDMI inputs, VGA, S-Video and component, plus a maximum resolution of 1920 x 1080, it's a great value option for the home theatre - a market that BenQ is specifically targeting with this model.

As a standard-throw projector, it's designed to be either table- or roof-mounted. I set the test unit up 1.5m from the screen and ended up with an image of about 1.2m (47m) from corner to corner BenQ suggests that the W1100 can project an image in excess of 7.5m (about 300m).

In my testing colours were bright and clear. I used it to watch movies and show presentations - it handled both business and entertainment applications with aplomb.

Rated at 2000 lumens, I found the W1100 to be bright in a well-lit room. At a distance in excess of 3m between the projector and screen I'd suggest reducing The ambient lighting to maintain image quality.

My test environment has eight low-voltage lights with two directly over the screen area. These didn't make much difference to the quality of the displayed imago.

Connectivity to a Mac was plug-and-play with toggling between different input options made easy with the remote or by using the buttons on the top of the unit.

As the W1100 is designed for the home theatre it doesn't come with a carry case but at just 3.6kg it's definitely luggable. It does include a VGA cable but, given its focus on home entertainment, we'd expect a HDMI cable - but that seems to be rare in this product category.

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