Dell M209X Projector: Physical Tour

Posted on March 27, 2008 By Art Feierman

Physical Tour

Small, black, and shiny!

Starting from the front, the M209X has its 1.1:1 zoom lens mounted on the right side (if you are facing the projector front). The lens extends beyond the projector front, with a large trim ring for focus. (The zoom is on the barrel, on the top of the Dell projector). This very limited range zoom allows only a 10% adjustment. That works out to filling a 100″ diagonal 4:3 screen from as close as

To the left of the lens, is a small Infra-red sensor for the Dell’s remote control. Below that is a button to release the drop down front foot. The M209X uses a three point stance, with two more screw thread adjustable feet, in the rear of the projector. The rest of the front is grill work, for the hot air exhaust.

Moving to the top, besides the zoom lens adjustment on the barrel, is a basic control panel, consisting of only seven buttons: A menu button, four arrow keys, Power button, and a centered Enter button. When not in Menu mode, the arrow keys are used for vertical keystone correction and source select.

The input panel of the Dell projector (located on the back), is farily typical of the “micro” class of portable projectors, with a single computer input, S-Video, Audio In and Audio Out, but, unlike most smaller projectors, the M209X sports an HDMI input, for those of us with computers or video sources with digital output. It performs as advertised. I plugged it right into my Sony PS3’s HDMI output, to feed my test disc’s test patterns and color tests right into the Dell. It worked effortlessly. The M209X also has a USB input for remote command and control.

The HDMI input can also extract an analog signal, as well as digital, and a Digital Audio source can be received through the HDMI, making for a total of two audio sources. The VGA computer input supports component video, as well as standard analog computer signals. The projector lacks a rear infra-red sensor, and a monitor out, but the rear sensor doesn’t seem to be needed, and a monitor out (for those using desktop computers), is pretty rare on the smallest of projectors.

Bottom line: For a very small projector, the Dell is reasonably well endowed in terms of inputs, it has a nice form factor, and a limited zoom lens.