Acer K10 review

Compact travel projector produces quality images on the go

Reviews
By
published
Acer K10
The Acer K10 uses an LED bulb as a light source, making it run cooler and quieter

TechRadar Verdict

A good option for someone looking to travel light but not the best for the home cinema enthusiast

Pros

  • +

    Good image quality for text

  • +

    Quiet

  • +

    Portable

Cons

  • -

    Not great for movies

  • -

    Odd resolution

Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

The Acer K10 data projector is referred to by Acer as a 'Travel' projector and it's easy to see why, as this unit can comfortably be held in the palm of one hand.

With an overall weight of 550g, this pico projector makes the perfect device for using on the move.

In order to hit this super-compact size, the K10 doesn't use a traditional bulb. Instead, light is cast by an LED light source that is controlled by a DLP processing chip.

While it only has an ANSI lumens rating of 100, you'll find it roughly comparable in brightness to a projector with a 1500 lamp rating. This means you won't need to exclude light in all but the brightest of rooms.

The controls on the top of unit consist of a decent focus ring, Power, Source and Menu buttons. We found setting up and sourcing the K10 very easy.

Cool runnings

The other real advantage of using LED technology is that less heat is generated. The projector still gets warm, but not as noticeably as other projectors we tested. With less heat, you will also find this a very quiet machine to run.

On the downside, the small size of the K10 does limit the effectiveness of the projector. For instance, you'll only find D-sub and Video ports for connecting to your laptop. However, in most instances this is more than sufficient.

Another negative aspect is the rather odd native resolution of 858 x 600 pixels, which means most laptop screens will need to be distorted to fit correctly.

When it comes to image quality we were genuinely surprised at how impressive the picture is. Movies were less impressive, but for text and presentations, it is more than usable.

The Acer K10 won't suit every user's needs, but if you need to travel light, hooking this projector up to a netbook, for instance, is possibly the best way to make a suitably big impression with a small projector.

Follow TechRadar Reviews on Twitter: http://twitter.com/techradarreview

Michael Browne