The lockdown has thought me one crucial lesson when you work from home – striking a balance between work and entertainment. I didn’t realize that until my TV decided to break down and give me the AVATAR experience.
Obviously, the panel is beyond saving and I have to resort to my PC for the streaming media entertainment such as YouTube, Plex and Netflix. The experience will never be the same compared to relaxing on a couch.
Then, just in time, I got my hands onto the ViewSonic’s latest portable projector, the ViewSonic M1+_G2, yes that is the actual name of the product complete with the underscore. That goes without saying, I am eager to give it a try.
Review Video
Unboxing
For a portable projector, it is shipped in a rather big box because of all the accessories that come along with it.
- ViewSonic M1+_G2 Projector
- Travel protective sleeve
- IR remote control
- Charger
- USB-C to USB-C cable
- user manual
Build Quality & Design
Even though the chassis is primarily made out of plastic, with the exception of the metallic stand, once you hold it in your hands, you can tell how robust and densely built the projector is. The metal stand has multiple use case, during storage it works as a lens cover and the moment you flip it down, it will turn on the projector and it will function as a stand with adjustable projection angle.
At the back is where all the control buttons are located. Personally, I have not been using the buttons because the remote control is more intuitive.
Meanwhile, the connectors are located at the side of the projector.
- Barrel charging port
- Micro SD card reader
- USB-C port
- HDMI port
- 3.5mm audio output
- USB-A port
Setup
Like I mentioned earlier, the metal stand allows you to adjust the projection angle and the projector itself has automatic vertical keystone up to 40-degrees. Since this is not a short-throw projector, I would suggest putting the projector at least 1 metre away for a better quality projection. You can even project up to 100″ from just 2.6 meters away without affecting the image quality. That is given if you’re using a good projector screen instead of a wall.
Speaking of the projection quality, ViewSonic is stating that the projector has Cinema SuperColor+ Technology with 125% Rec.709. Honestly speaking, I don’t have any professional tools to test it out but what I could really say about the colour reproduction based on my observation is that – it looks amazing. Then again, your projection backdrop will need to be standardized as well. If you project on rough or non-natural colour walls, then don’t expect the image to look good.
On that side note, the light source is also being claimed to have 30,000 hours of lifespan. Truth be told, no one knows in real life situation how this will fare but if we just take 50% of it as a baseline that is still 15,000 hours. That is equivalent to 625 days of non-stop 24-hours usage.
In collaboration with Harman Kardon, the built-in speaker of this projector is quite remarkable. For a portable projector like this M1 Plus G2, the speaker can be extremely loud and you can easily fill a room by itself. For obvious reasons, small speakers mean the trebles and vocals clarity is going to be the key strength of it. With that said, the bass is not going to impress any of the bass-heads out there. The good news is that you have multiple ways to improve the audio:
- connecting to external speakers via the 3.5mm audio jack
- connecting to external speakers or headphones via Bluetooth
Software
If you’re used to smart TVs or streaming TV boxes, you will feel at home with the user interface. The projector itself will have a couple of apps pre-installed for example Netflix and iQIYI. More apps can be installed through the Aptoide store such as Plex, Twitch and Spotify.
That makes it stand out as an actual smart TV replacement and on top of that being portable means, you can bring it around the house, whether if you want to have your movie night in the living room or bedroom. Besides a single full charge of the projector allows it to be used up to 6 hours of continuously movie playback. That is of course if you turn on the ECO mode.
Personally, I think there’s no need to use the Standard or Bright mode unless you’re planning to use it in a brightly lit room. Even the ECO mode is bright enough for a dimly lit room during night time. Also, you can charge the projector through the USB-C port as it supports USB PD standard.
Conclusion
Last but not least, the price. The official price tag for the ViewSonic M1 Plus G2 is RM1,499.
At this point, some of you might be complaining that this is too expensive. Honestly speaking, we are being spoiled with affordable standard projectors hence some of you will comment so.
First of all, there’s a major difference between a standard projector and a smart projector whereby the latter one has modern capabilities such as app installation and work as a standalone media playback device. Not to mention all the features are packed in a small package that is portable for different occasion.
In other words, if you’re looking for an all-in-one projector that you can bring around that has good projection quality and sound quality. The ViewSonic M1 Plus G2 will not disappoint you.
Where to buy? (Affiliate links)
- Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2KWMUoG
- Lazada: https://invol.co/cl2hmej
- Shopee: https://invol.co/cl2fsan
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