3M MPro150

3M MPro150 Pocket Projector

Pocket Projector is an apt label for 3M’s MPro150 video projector. It’s not only incredibly small, but it’s completely self-contained, too. All the software you need to display digital photos and videos, PDFs, Word docs, Excel spreadsheets, and even PowerPoint presentations is built right in. You can even store those files in the 1GB of onboard flash memory or on the 2GB MicroSD card that’s included. And it’ll run on either AC or battery power. The MPro150 is just a little bigger than the wee Optoma Pico PK101 projector we reviewed in April 2009, but 3M’s device has a far superior feature set. In addition to what we’ve already described, the MPro150’s LCOS (liquid crystal on silicon) micro-display boasts a native resolution of 640x480. The Optoma uses a DLP (Digital Light Processing) chip and has a native resolution of just 480x320. And where the PK101 is capable of accepting only a composite video signal, the MPro150 can accept VGA plus audio or composite plus audio using the special cables that are provided. Although the projector’s video input looks exactly like a mini HDMI port, the projector cannot accept digital video signals. 3M also sells a $24 cable for connecting the projector to component-video devices, and a $50 cable for connecting it to an iPod or iPhone.