Notebook with built-in projector?

Recently came across David Pogue's NYT review of a couple of pico projectors. The AAXA L1 laser projector sounds pretty darn cool. Some other forum members have written positive reviews of similar projectors:

• AAXA P2
• AAXA M1

Got to thinking -- Would it be cool to have a pico projector built into your ThinkPad or IdeaPad? I can think of at least 2 uses:

1. Presentations (of course )

2. Maybe *replace* the LCD entirely? If you're near a wall (or the seatback of the person flying in front of you) you can just project on that. Otherwise you could use a portable screen -- perhaps also built into the notebook, so that it would unfold / roll out from the laptop base. You could have a large physical display size in a small, portable notebook.

What do you think? Would you be interested in a laptop with a projector built in?

 

i don't you would need the projector built-in into your laptop.

1) There is no real point of doing this as this offers no real advantages. To get a good picture with projector, the surface on which the images are projected need to flat and the room has to be dark enough. Current picoproject's LED light is not strong enough to project large enough high def image.

2) The picoprojector real benefit is its portability...

one of the nikon compact digital camera has a built in pico projector. Also, the current pico projector phones are why too thick and can't be used long enough with the phone's small battery.

 

Hi,

I think 1) might not be quite true with laser projectors since there's no focus necessary. Here's some links:

http://www.aaxatech.com/news/l1_laser_pico_projector.html
http://www.microvision.com/store/Limited-Edition-SHOWWX™-Laser-Pico-Projector-p-37.html

Both the Microvision and AAXA laser projectors say they are "focusless".

I think we're a bit aways from laptop powered ones. The pico and micro projectors are still pretty large in size to go into the back of my laptop. I've seen the projector phone ones, but those provide terrible quality video - I think you need at least 30 lumens to do anything. The AAXA M1 is pretty cool for daylight / bright areas I think

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVCSM6PdbEM

 

It looks like ASUS tried this with a prototype laptop...

http://www.trendygadget.com/2008/06/11/asus-introduced-new-laptop-with-built-in-projector/

 

There comes a point where device features need to stop...otherwise you get a device that's a jack of all trades and master of none.

 

I think it is an awesome addition to the thinkpad. My only question will be, where the optical output should be placed, if it was at a static location,or if movable, whether it will look ugly ornot and how to control the projection direction

 

Doubling as a projector is old hat to a ThinkPad.

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:755CDV

 

Oh, LOL. Couldn't figure it out then saw that the screen is removable to put on an overhead projector. LOL. That's thinking outside the box.

 

These microprojectors suck unless you're in a pitch black room. They simply don't have the brightness to give a good image in majority of situations.

 

This thread may be a bit old, but there are companies who are working on computers where the projector is the main form of display and some of them are using the laser keyboards too. Will be interesting to see the final products.

 

I think thats a really value added extra to any notebook that calls themselves business class.

I am only trying to imagine the engineering solution to this endeavor. Where should the aperture be placed? How will the user control the direction of the light emission (since the direction of projection may vary relative to the surface normal direction of the screen or notebookbook orientation, depending on the situation of the presenter/presentation)? E.g. at times you pay want to project left, other times right, othertimes front, or anywhere inbetween.

So that means you must have some ability to control where it projects with at least an azimuthal angle of 180 degrees. Further it has to have fine tuning of the projection directions. So how does this whole mechanism work and how will it look to the notebook? Maybe use multiple projectors in different directions? That increases the cost though. etc

Will be interesting to see what will be conceptualized.

 

Maybe I am missing something, but why would you possibly want such a projector built into the laptop rather than a small stand alone device that you could more easily independently position and share amongst multiple machines?

 

maybe some people like the idea of swiss army knife laptop that can do everything.

But the picture/video quality of such projectors will be pretty poor.

 

Whats the point of alienware notebooks having the flashy lights? Whats the point of the thinklight? Whats the point of expresscard? Whats the point of internalized removable remotes on notebooks?

Like anything else it is value added. Whats the point of anything? Infact it will be foolish to even ask such questions because the only important thing is that there will be a market for something. As long as there is business sense to do something, you just do it to tailor to the customers demands.

 

If a decent quality projector could be built into a laptop for standard PPT presentations I'd be a very willing buyer.

No business traveler wants to lug around a projector...even so called pocket projectors ( 3M MPro150 Pocket Projector XR-0062-3684-2 B&H Photo Video. A feature like this would be a huge value add to me.

 

You are kidding right? Although I appreciate your metaphysical analysis, there come's a point where the opportunity cost, practicality, and economics come in to play with the addition of 'value'. I'm suggesting I don't see enough value in adding a projector when a standalone devise would be function just as well and you haven't explained the 'business sense' of it. Having said that, I can see how some people would be interested in the idea of a swiss army knife laptops. But you have to ask yourself, what type of people buy swiss army knives?

 

Obviously, all we can do is make anecdotal cases unless any of us have access to market research.

But knowing how crazy we get from having to carry around a "heavy" A/C adapter and also how Lenovo actually sells a light-weight combination A/C adapter for biz travelers...it suggests that there would be a market for a laptop product that would allow the business traveler to not have to lug around a projector.

Is that market big enough to justify production? dunno. Depends on the quality of the projector, the cost of R&D, the retail price, etc. so many factors. But I think it's very far-fetched to just dismiss this potential feature as a hair-brained scheme.

As a matter of fact, I'd be willing to bet that a projector will be built into our smartphones in less than a decade...let alone laptops.

 

Um, no I am not 'kidding'. I am with Drivingrain on this one. Who are you to dictate what the entire industry will do let alone what the consumer will want. There are many factors that comes into play. Bottom line is, these projector add ons can find benefit to notebook users. It certainly improves the perception a notebook is more 'high-tech' and gadget like.

Lets not loose sight of the fact that at the end of the day, nobody is saying this should be mandatory and standard on all notebooks, but that it merely be an optional addon. Just like a webcam often is (in most cases it isnt even optional anymore).

And Drivingrain is right. They will soon be releasing smart phones with the pico/laser projectors imbedded. There are already cameras that have this projector technology imbedded. Notebooks, especially 'business' notebooks seems to be a very logical next move. In general, these projectors I think will find much better utility in notebooks than smart phones.

Infact I've been yearning for such a development for some time. No longer do I need a docking station or plugging in video output to an external monitor from my notebook - I only need to find a close enough wall with a uniform white/yellow color and Im good to go as if I have an external monitor. And thats just one use. Others may find use in presentations, gaming, watching movies, etc.

 

it is one thing to include a feature, it is quite another to include a feature that works well and meets the design objective. The current technology used for these pico-projectors needs further improvement and refinement before they can be used for integration into laptops, etc.

Once upon a time pico-projectors were something lot of people raved about, and several of my friends bought one for the sake of owning them. However, the technology limitation of these projectors meant that they can't produce the sort of picture quality of the larger projectors and the light source used were not bright enough.

There were many companies that planned to release mobile phones with these pico projectors installed, but these plan came to an abrupt end due to the lack of consumer demand for such devices.

 

"Who am I to dictate what the entire industry will do"? Seriously?

We can have a hypothetical discussion about integrating anything into a laptop to its benefit. There is no discourse in that. Bottom line is the additional of anything is potentially beneficial. Yes, if you add an integrated coffee machine into your laptop you have a more useful machine. What I am debating is the opportunity cost of adding such a device.

Besides that, for a company that can't seem to add decent screens to their systems, perhaps it's asking too much of them to work on integrating halfbaked projectors as well.

Yes, when decent projectors get as cheap and small as webcams are now, go right ahead and add them. Are we at that point yet? I would say not.

Drivingrain doesn't want to carry around a pocket projector that is the size of a mouse. Do you think he wants to carry around a laptop that has to fit a project of that size into its chassis all the time? And even projectors of that size are of questionable performance.

Have you seen the Nikon S1100pj in person? The projector is as much of a gimmick as a useful tool. The quality is rather poor and definitely not something you want to use as a business tool where you want to be communicating as clearly and professionally as possible.

If you don't care about ambient lighting (working in the dark), image brightness, sharpness, resolution then yes, it might be an acceptable replacement to an external monitor. But have you seen the size and cost of a decent projector? You want 1080p? There's a reason decent projectors cost that much and are the size they are--any projector tiny enough to integrate into a laptop in the near future is going to have serious compromises on size and image quality.

Going back to my comment about the people who buy swiss army knives--90% of the people who own them don't use 90% of the attachments. It's nice to have in a pinch, but you'd much rather be using proper tools. So yes, the idea of integrating a projector into a laptop is a neat idea. Is a underpowered low quality projector something worthwhile to integrate in to laptop right now? Let's debate that.

 

All technologies need improvement and refinement. At some point you have to bring them mainstream. Even 'mainstream' items like processors need improvements.

Actually pico projectors are still very much an interest of many consumers and manufacturers. I think you mean from CES/conference type hype? A year ago pico projectors were the big thing. Sure. Focus changes every year. This year was tablets. Next year who knows. The point is, nobody 'lost' interest in pico projectors. Its only now that manufacturers are aware and beginning to impliment the technology into products.

Infact, pico/laser projectors may be the future of projector technology alltogether because they are capable of much longer lifetime and theoretical brightness than conventional filament lamp projectors. Plus they can be much smaller than conventional projectors in general, as well as achieving very small feature sizes since solid state lasers are essentially microfabricated microchips.

 

Lot of phone manufacturers was planning to integrate the pico-projectors in their phones, now how many of them are actually released in countries outside of Japan or Korea?

There is no such thing as a perfect technology, but RISC processors have been out for much longer periods than the pico-projectors. Once the light source problem is solved, them we might see these technology trickle into other consumer technology in a usable manner and not just something of a gimmicky feature.

 

Right so you agree with me that all technology needs improvements. Laser projectors are no different.

However none of your talking points support your argument that projector technologies should not be included into notebooks.

Your only point seems to be that they are not practical. They may not be practical right at this moment (actually they already are but for arguments sake lets look via your angle). We are talking about the concept of having projectors built in, rather than the feasibility of seeing product development in the upcomming yearly quarters or years.

Look at the wide array of microelectromechanical gyroscopes and accelerometers. They have been around for decades now, and only now do you see mainstream implimentation into all sorts of devices from phones to gaming devices, and now even inside your thinkpad (the accelerometer part). Your attitude about these laser projector technologies is like someone arguing back then against the use of these MEMS sensors in future (what is our present) devices. It seems counter-development.

 

Well the T41 thinkpads were the first to adopt such technology. The problem with adopting accelerometer technology was simply a matter of cost and marketability for most manufacturers not the maturity of the technology itself.

While, the current LED/Laser pico projectors have the problem of:

1. the power demand versus the amount of light output.
2. the quality of the pictures/video outputs.
3. the current technology limit for miniaturizing such devices in a cost effective manner.

Once the first 2 problems are solved, then all you need is a technology pioneer to integrate such technology into a laptop and test the consumer reactions to such technology.

 

Im not arguing for the practicality of including the current devices, but for the inclusion of projectors in notebooks in general. I think it will be a good addon to any business notebook.

 

kinda old post but saw this post on GIZ and it reminded me of this thread...

Fujitsu's Pico Projector-Packing Laptops Replace Optical Drive with Something Even More Useless


i guess someone it testing the market for whether or not consumers want it...

the brightness is still pretty weak...