Digital Trends

3M MPro110 Projector December 4th, 2008 | by David Tanaka

Features and Design

The darling feature of the 3M MPro110 is, naturally, its size. At roughly 4.5 inches long, two inches wide and just under an inch thick, the device is bigger and thicker than a Blackberry Pearl smartphone, but smaller than a 2.5-inch portable hard drive. The case is essentially an oblong box with rounded corners. The sides are black plastic, but the top plate, front end cap and door for the rechargeable battery on the back are matte silver.

Inside is 3M's micro projector engine. The imager technology is Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS). The projector's native resolution is VGA (640x480 pixels), but it will display up to WXGA (1280x768) quality. Light is provided by LEDs and output is rated at 12 lumens. The unit further consumes 1.5 watts and 3M states that the Lithium Ion battery will give 40-60 minutes per charge (it can of course be used while the AC adapter is plugged in).

The lens is recessed and thus protected from damage or fingerprints, and a thumb wheel adjusts focus. The MPro110 accepts VGA or composite video signals and has separate ports for each as well. 3M indicates that those two inputs should cover most of the devices you might be interested in connecting to the MPro110 including computers, PDAs, smartphones, camcorders, digital cameras or media players. A sliding power switch, DC-in power port and light that indicates on or charging state rounds out the I/O.

The top plate has a glossy black insert that looks like it could be a screen, but it's purely decorative. The bottom has a quarter-inch threaded socket, handy for mounting the unit on a tabletop tripod. The unit is fan-less and the cooling grills on the top, side and bottom add some interesting surface texture too. In short, overall, it's an attractively bland design.

What’s in the Box

Along with the projector, 3M includes an AC adapter; composite video (with an RCA plug gender changer) and VGA cables; a main manual; quick-start guide; and supplemental battery manual.

Image Courtesy of 3M