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ASUS Laptop With Built-In Projector Raises PowerPoint Threat to "Critical"
Posted by Gizmodo US Edition at 3:46 PM on June 5, 2008
Tucked away in a quiet corner at Computex, ASUS is showing a nondescript laptop with a built-in pico projector. Tiny projectors have made various appearances at the tech show so far, most recently from Foxconn, but no other company has incorporated them into existing products, or for that matter shown many compelling applications for them other than in bulky and unrealistic mobile phones. ASUS has provided the first example of what could be a fantastic use for this burgeoning new tech.
For now though, the execution doesn't seem great. The staff at PC Perspective, who were the first to lay eyes on the device, couldn't tell much about the exact specs of the projection unit but judging by the photo below (and the capabilities of other miniature projectors) the images won't exactly be dazzling. The camera is also built into the top of the bezel, which creates two pretty big chunks of wasted space. Speculative reservations aside, built-in projection capability could have serious potential in the business world, so ASUS may be on to something.
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
meinrosebud
Posted June 22, 2008 2:54 PM
Stick a powerful globe in that sucker and watch the battery die in minutes!
Gary_7vn
Posted 4:27 PM 5/6/08
This does not look like a fair test. It's LED so it is not so powerful. It needs a very dim room, that is a limitation but one that is likely to exist for a long time. Even with this limitation this is pretty amazing.
Gary_7vn
tkohrs2002
Posted 4:24 PM 5/6/08
why am i on giz this late? o and this is kinda cool, but its a pc so...... useless
tkohrs2002
jrich760
Posted 4:54 PM 5/6/08
This is awesome but the laser based microvision pico projector will perform much better.
jrich760
SMSDHubbard
Posted 4:39 PM 5/6/08
@tkohrs2002: Yep. Useless since it can't run.... Wait, what app makes OSX useful other than a pretty GUI? I forgot what I was talking about.
SMSDHubbard
jigsawfallingintoplace
Posted 4:39 PM 5/6/08
@tkohrs2002: You're so painfully lame I won't even go there.
Good idea, IMHO. Would seriously remove a ton of hassles for short business meetings and the compulsory 40 mins of fiddling around with cables, Fn F7, Fn F8, Fn Fanything that it always includes..
jigsawfallingintoplace
krom
Posted 5:04 PM 5/6/08
but it's actually f'in awesome. i can't wait to get a notebook, mobile, whatever with built in projector.
krom
krom
Posted 5:02 PM 5/6/08
@SMSDHubbard: Dude, he wasn't talking about OS X. He was talking about solaris on sparc.
krom
Jim (The Canuck One)
Posted 6:22 PM 5/6/08
Me Wantee!
As someone who've given quite a few presentations with a borrowed projector on a dirty wall in what used to be a broom closet (because you got bumped from the "nice" room by a certain member of senior management), this would be a godsend.
Even if the specs are a little light, it'd still be able to get a workable image in a small-ish room.
Jim (The Canuck One)
nwjerseyliz
Posted 9:31 PM 5/6/08
This would be great for the conferences I go to, once they work out the kinks. I would think it would need a greater power source than a laptop can provide but that's just a hunch.
nwjerseyliz
kryptik
Posted 10:06 PM 5/6/08
I reckon in time pico-projectors will become standard on business notebooks, especially the ones purchased for sales teams. A projector in a mobile phone never really made sense, so I have no idea why the initial mock-ups were always on chunky phones, sapping their little batteries dry.
You will never game with this or want to watch DVDs, but for powerpointing to half a dozen potential clients - perfect!
kryptik
nomax
Posted 10:55 PM 5/6/08
IMHO this is useful maybe for nightly in-flight entertainment for the whole row - but otherwise: too dark, you would need to position it parallel to a white surface - such surfaces exist only in conference rooms with projectors already installed. Maybe for road warriors.
Im waiting for the "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi; you're my only hope" 3D display type...
nomax
Jakey69
Posted 10:24 PM 5/6/08
And what if you do want to watch DVD's?
The potential is definatley in our future and i will place money on the table that this technology will be as good as the standard today, all ii takes is time and research and eventually the brainiacs behind this evolution will implement a solution.
How do you think we're using multi-core CPU's in our computers when 20 or so years ago it took a room full of clutter to get a result hardly a fraction of today's standard.
Just sit back and read a few more articles and when your grown enough to come back and face the future of technology, 'wella' Hi-def laptop projectors will be shining in your eyes.
HAVE SOME HOPE!
Jakey69
Reiji
Posted 7:02 AM 6/6/08
@tkohrs2002: And people wonder why I hate Apple-users so much. They're either like tkohrs2002, or like this:[www.penny-arcade.com] , or both.
Reiji
tkohrs2002
Posted 2:39 PM 6/6/08
@Reiji: in no way am i a liberal-french elitist douche, its just, pc are foreign to me, and because it doesnt run OSX, it doesnt appeal to me at all. And the windows UI Burns my eyes.
tkohrs2002
xenobyte72
Posted 7:10 PM 6/6/08
IMHO portable computers should do away with screens altogether, in favour of a projector. If we could combine that with gesture and speech recognition we'd be on to a winner.
xenobyte72