Showwx Laser pico projector

Sometimes one can only marvel at the speed at which technology evolves.

Many of us are required to do presentations at work, and most often this requires making use of a bulky projector to transmit images from a laptop to a larger display surface. Standard projectors use metal halide lamps or LEDs to create the image, which makes them expensive, noisy, power-hungry machines that are a pain to carry around and position properly.

All that is set to change with the release of Microvision's SHOWWX Laser Pico Projector (winner of the online vote of this year's Last Gadget Standing contest at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas).

Ditching the light bulb in favour of a frikken' laser beam, the SHOWWX is able to create remarkably high-resolution images on any surface - and it's only about the size of a standard cellphone.

Doesn't it want to make you cry with relief? Anyway, the laser technology means there are no costly bulbs to replace, and the image is always in focus regardless of the distance from the projection surface.

This technology is not cheap. However, the good news is that we are likely to see pico projectors incorporated directly into devices in the near future, like Samsung's MBP200 phone.

The damage: Expect to pay about R3800 when it becomes commercially available in March.