Nov 10, 2008. This pocket-size projector impresses with its small size but is otherwise a work in progress. The 3M MPro110 pocket projector is so small and light that it could easily fit into an actual shirt pocket. Even with its included rechargeable battery, this device weighs just a few ounces and is barely larger.
• Pros Fits in a shirt pocket. Connects to computers and composite video sources. Rechargeable battery.
• Cons Low brightness limits useful image size. Does not come with a cable for connecting to an iPod. • Bottom Line The 3M MPro110 is one of the first projectors that can fit into a shirt pocket and the first of its size that can connect to a computer. Pico projectors are the newest attention-grabbing gadgets in town. They fit into a shirt pocket, weigh a few ounces, and bring a new convenience to projecting large images wherever you happen to be. (Think of the Princess Leia hologram in Star Wars, but without R2D2 or the hologram part, and the image projected on a nearby wall or tabletop instead of in thin air.) Almost a year after the first pico projectors were pre-announced, the category is finally being populated by real products. The 3M MPro110 ($359 direct) is the second pico projector I've had the chance to test in as many weeks.
On the outside, the MPro110 measures 0.9 by 2.0 by 4.5 inches (HWD) and weighs just 5.6 ounces. Although it's impressively small, it's just a little more bulky than the Optoma projector, which gives it a slightly less-elegant look.
Where the PK101 is similar in size to a cell phone, the MPro110 has more the size and heft of an electric razor. The only two controls on the MPro110 are a focus thumb wheel and an on/off power switch.
The three connectors include a mini plug for composite video, a proprietary connector for a computer, and a power connector. The front is defined by the lens along one of the 2-inch sides. For setup, install the rechargeable battery, plug in a cable, turn on the power, point the projector, and focus.
But what sounds easy in theory is more difficult in practice. First you have to solve the puzzle of where the battery goes. The cover is held in place by a screw, which is a good way to hide its purpose, and the screw isn't mentioned in the getting started guide (an oversight that 3M says it will soon correct).
After you decipher the instructions, you have to find an appropriately small Phillips-head screwdriver. And be careful not to drop the exceedingly small screw on the floor, or you may never see it again.
Once you've installed the battery (and put the screw back in!), you plug in the cable and point the projector, which can also be a little cumbersome if you're plugging into a computer. The projector comes with two cables, one for a video source and one for a computer. The computer cable plugs into the projector's proprietary port on one end and into a VGA port on the other. Unfortunately, the cable is only about 22.5 inches long and behaves like a spring, tending to snap back to its original shape.
On my tests, the cable kept pivoting the projector away from the direction I wanted it to point it in. Putting a weight on the cable to hold it in place helped, but even then I had to adjust the computer and the table the projector was sitting on to compensate for the pull from the cable. The better solution is to take advantage of the tripod mount on the bottom of the projector, and use a tripod to control the projector's position, but that means one more thing to carry, which largely undercuts the main attraction of a 5.6-ounce projector. The video cable is easier to work with. It plugs into the projector's video port on one end and offers a male RCA phono plug on the other, so you can plug directly into a composite video source. In addition, 3M includes in the box a gender changer (with two female RCA phono plug jacks), which you can plug the cable into, and then plug another cable into the second connector. This can be useful if you have a video cable that plugs into your camera, for example, and ends in a male RCA phono plug at the other end.
3m Mpro110 Driver For Windows 7
3m Mpro 110 Driver Windows 7
Missing from the package is an iPod cable, but according to 3M you can get an appropriate cable for any model of iPod from Apple. For this review, 3M provided an Apple Universal Dock and Apple cable, which worked without problems thanks to the gender changer. The MPro110's image quality is roughly equivalent to the Optoma TI projector's, which is to say it's good enough to be useful. As with the TI engine, the LED light source in the 3M engine is meant to last the life of the projector (which 3M estimates at 10,000 hours). Where the TI engine uses red, green, and blue LEDs flashing in sequence, however, leaving it to your visual system to integrate the colors over time, the 3M engine uses a white LED and lets the VGA (640-by-480) LCoS chip create the three primary colors. The practical difference between the two approaches to creating color is that the TI engine is subject to a rainbow effect, with light areas breaking up into little red-green-blue rainbows when objects move on-screen or you shift your gaze. The MPro110, on the other hand, doesn't have this problem but suffers from a slight halo of light around the image, caused by internal reflections in the lensing system.