Acer rights its wrongs with K11 pico projector

By Richard Lai
Why hello there, Acer. Not only does this K11 DLP pico projector look sexier than its predecessor, but it's also been given some nice internal enhancements. Starting with display performance: the K11's resolution remains about the same at 858 x 600, but it's twice as bright at 200 lumens (while maintaining the same 20,000-hour lamp life) and has twice as much contrast ratio at 2,000:1. As for connectivity this machine now packs an HDMI socket (along with the usual VGA and composite AV ports) as well as an SDHC card reader and a USB port for opening music, video and picture files. Even with all these extra goodies, the K11's only managed to gain 0.13 pounds (reaching 1.34 pounds) while sporting a smaller body. All we need now is a price, launch date, a few friends and a destination for our road trip. Oh, and some content.

Update: apparently an Acer representative hinted that the K11 will be available for about €500 ($685; translated page shows "$" instead of "€"). Yikes. Anyway, vielen Dank, Felix Fdot!

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Hannover, CeBIT 2010 – The latest in Acer's range of ultra-portable projectors, the K11 stands out from the crowd for outstanding performance and rich features, starting from built-in USB and SD card reader that takes portability to a new level.

Extremely light and ultra-compact, with integrated USB and SDHC card reader, the Acer K11 projector provides full access to multimedia contents, including audio, video and pictures. So small it can even fit in a pocket, it can be used to display presentations or videos with no need to carry a notebook or a video player along. The Acer K11 is also equipped with an HDMI™ port that delivers uncompressed digital signals and multi-channel audio, providing easy connectivity to high-quality HD broadcasts or entertainment.

The new K11 projector combines DLP technology with LED lamp technology, dramatically enhancing LED picture quality. LED technology offers several benefits over traditional lamps. First of all, it makes lamp replacement unnecessary as LED lifetime lasts up to 20,000 hours; plus, the lack of breakable filaments or tubes increases durability. Combined with DLP, LED lamp technology delivers better color saturation and contrast performance.

Finally, and of particular interest to Acer's continued drive to offer greener, more environmentally friendly products, LED lamp technology is free of hazardous substances such as mercury or halogen gases and compared to a traditional lamp can reduce power consumption up to 30%. More energy savings are ensured by the Auto-shutdown feature that automatically shuts down the projector after a user-defined period without reception of any input signal.

Weighing a fraction over half a kilo (0.61 kg / 1.34 lbs.) and measuring just 122x116 mm, the K11 pico-projector is one of the smallest and lightest projectors on the market today, making it the ideal companion for mobile users looking for an easy to carry device for instant projection anywhere. The high portability is complemented by a glamorous glossy black casing that portrays refined elegance. For ease of use the control pad is embedded on the sleek surface.

Regardless of its compact size, the K11 pico-projector offers an outstanding performance. Thanks to the innovative LED technology this tiny projector can provide 200 ANSI Lumens brightness for clear and detailed images while a 2000:1 contrast ratio ensures crystal clear, vibrant projections. What's more, the Acer SmartFormat technology supports a wide range of PC formats, including 4:3 and 16:9 displays and takes away any worry users may have of having to adjust the resolution of their wide-format notebook.

Support for manual (up to 40 degrees vertical) and auto Keystone correction tweaks the pointing up or pointing down effect, so that the audience can always see a perfectly rectangular image, making the Acer K11 the ideal projector for smaller environments.

Over time, traditional projectors are usually affected by colour decay that adds a yellowish or greenish shade to the images on screen. Now Acer's projectors take advantage of ColorSafe and DLP® technology to ensure picture integrity even with prolonged use, making them virtually immune to colour decay.

With Acer InstantPack technology, if the user is in a hurry to leave, the power cord can be unplugged right after the projector is turned off, without any resulting damage. There's no need to wait for a cooling period; the user can pack the projector and leave immediately.

Acer projectors are compliant with the most up-to-date Microsoft Vista operating systems.

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