Results tagged “Dell” from Green Mesh

Projectors have come a long way from huge multi-filament power sucking tungsten bulbs 50 years ago in mechanical movie projectors that weighed the same as a small car.

The waste infrared heat from these bulbs would fry a modern projector. These projectors often had secondary bulbs to read the sound track and power sucking vacuum tubes to interpret the analog sound track image from the film.

Then came digital projectors that shoot light from really expansive exotic bulbs through LCD panels. The bulbs are expensive because they are very precise, have rare materials, and it's a great revenue stream. Replacing the bulb is almost as expensive as the projector and they last about 2000 hours.

Texas Instruments is marketing DLP® picture technology. With millions of tiny mirrors on a single chip, DLP®.

Think LED, cool running, 10,000 hour bulbs with little color decay over the lifespan, and lower power consumption.

A video produced by Texas instruments about the technology, that includes a presentation DLP® projector that can fit in your hand.

Dell began marketing a tiny Texas Instruments DLP® projector, the MS109s, for $499. Which if the bulb lasts $10,000 hours, it would basically be a disposable projector.

The 50 ANSI lumens (maximum) rating seems low when 1,000 lumens is a minimum for leaving the lights up in a small meeting room.

Here is a list of other manufacturers

Maybe someone will buy one and report back to us.

Check back for updates as I start to use this mini computer.

I love small cars and motorcycles. Tools that can do the job with the smallest footprint for space and energy consumption.

I use Linux/Ubuntu on a Shuttle Computer Small Form-Factor system for my desktop that is about the size of a shoe box. For work, I am supplied with a robust Dell Inspiron 9400 that can handle video tasks. It's a laptop with a screen almost as large as my desktop screen, but wonderful for video editing.

A couple months ago, I resurrected a vintage Dell Inspiron 5000e with Windows 98 for my ultra mobile/higher risk needs like motorcycle trips. It was cobbled together with a pre-release version of Windows 2000. Although really slow with 128 MB of RAM, it was functional for browser functions.

In September, Dell debuted the Inspiron Mini 9, known as a UMPC (also known as a netbook. The tiny laptop measures Width: 9.13" (232mm) Height: 1.07" (27.2mm) front / 1.25" (31.7mm) back Depth: 6.77" (172mm). This computer is so tiny you could almost fit it into a pair of cargo pants with a large pocket.

I came to the conclusion that phone browsers aren't yet up to the task of doing all the tasks that I can do with a desktop/laptop. The only device that does this would be a mirror of my desktop/laptop, only smaller. The device would have a universal operating system like Windows XP, something that can easily accommodate Verizon's USB broadband and most of the mindset you have in place for working on a desktop/laptop.

The Mini 9 uses less power than a laptop and much less than a desktop. It uses Intel's smallest and lowest power consuming processor, the Atom. According to Intel, the chip is built with the world's smallest transistors.

The Mini 9 doesn't have a traditional hard drive with a motor and other moving parts. It uses chips to store permanent memory adding to it's frugal power consumption. Chips are also not subject to shock and the failures of mechanical hard drives in mobile applications.

My experience so far is 4+ hours of straight run time from a really tiny battery pack. The whole computer only weighs 2.28 lbs. (1.035 kg).