Do I need a native 1280x768 projector? Are they worth it?

Hi guys,

Wondering what projector to go for if I will primarily use a feed from my widescreen laptop.

At the centre of my conundrum is that I'm not sure if the ideal is to go for a projector that does 1280x768 native... My laptop is native 1280x800, but I can set it to 1280x768, but NOT 1280x720.

So should I totally ignore the new wave of cheap HD PJ's that only do 720 and go for one of the 768 ones, as then I can match resolutions on the source and proj, presumably avoiding scaling.

The two PJ's I had in mind are Optoma's... HD72 or the slightly cheaper (and brighter) EP1690 (which only has a 2-speed wheel).

If 768 res is not inmportant then I might go for HD70 or Mitsubishi HD1000.

What do you think?

[RICKYJ]

I think once you have the projector attached, you would be able to run multiple screens via the graphics card in the laptop, so you could send a 720p picture the proj, and keep the laptop at it's native resolution.

Failing that the HD70 does accept a 1280 x 768 image per the user manual, but will not be pixel mapped for the best quality.

Hope this helps.

Ricky

p.s. a 2 speed wheel is more likely to cause the rainbow effect, as I understand it.

[nwgarratt]

[QUOTE=R10KYJ;4299220
p.s. a 2 speed wheel is more likely to cause the rainbow effect, as I understand it.[/QUOTE]

I wouldn't go below 4x wheel. If someone sees the RBE then they will probably see it regardless of what speed it is when it is 4x and under. The faster the wheel is will determine how bad the RBE is though. The more expensive PJ's with 5x wheels will make RBE a lot less.