Thursday, May 29,2008 @ 11:10am
Panasonic intros Wi-Fi travel projectors
In an aggressive change to its lineup, Panasonic this morning unveiled its LB75 and LB80 projectors for frequent travelers. The entire line is designed to be small and light enough to accompany a notebook, weighing under 7 pounds, and in some cases to have an almost cable-free setup process: the LW80NTU, LB80NTU, and LB75NTU all include built-in 802.11g Wi-Fi that allows them to deliver images from as many as 128 nearby wireless computers, including more recent systems running Mac OS X Leopard and Windows Vista. The designs are also more dust-resistant than earlier models and have better image processing to improve viewability in daylight.
Headlining the releases is the LW80NTU; the projector is the lone widescreen model of the group and outputs at a native 1280x800 that matches many notebooks and is better-suited to 720p HD video. It outputs 2,600 lumens of brightness and carries inputs for both PC and traditional video sources.
Other projectors fit a standard-ratio 1024x768 view. The LB80NTU makes up for its lower resolution with a higher 3,200-lumen brightness, while the LB75NTU supplies the same image at 2,600 lumens; the LB80U and LB75U offer the same brightness as their NTU equivalents but shed the wireless feature.
All but the LW80NTU ship this month at prices ranging between $1,999 for the LB75U and $3,200 for the LB80NTU. The widescreen model arrives in July at a $3,499 price point.
