NEC U310W DLP Projector - Review Summary

Posted on March 3, 2012 by Art Feierman

NEC U310W Projector: Bottom Line

Ultimately, the NEC U310W is a very good choice for the educational market as well as presenters who have to convey ideas in a very interactive way. The 3100 lumens of brightness that the U310W produces means you will have plenty of light output for just about any environment. The projector can be set up easily and if you decide to ceiling mount the unit, which is its most standard application, then the version of the U310W that comes with the mount is very inexpensive and requires less skill and expertise to mount than a long throw projector. The nice part about ultra short throw projectors is that they mount to the wall right above the screen. You don’t have to create a support in the ceiling tiles of the conference room or classroom. Saves a lot of time and money.

The amount of different signals the NEC U310W can accept has also made this a winner. You name it and it can accept it. Component video does require a VGA to component adapter but that isn’t a very big issue considering there is a HDMI port and that most likely will be how you get your HD signal into the projector. The quality of the image produced through HDMI was spectacular for a business projector. I was very impressed.

The NEC U310W projector is interactive, and I definitely want to end this review saying that the ability for the projector to be controlled by either your PC and or your IPad is pretty convenient. Let's not forget that NEC has created an interactive pen tool that plugs into the microphone input of your IPad that allows you to annotate on your IPad screen and have the lines show up on the screen. This explanation of the pen isn’t even touching on the surface of its capabilities, but it's quite a nice touch, and I can see many educators utilizing this great tool.

NEC U310W Projector: Pros, Cons

NEC U310W Projector: Pros

The projector is competively priced for the educational market and comes with at least a two year warranty.
Has a complete list of inputs for a variety of signals.
Is interactive and has the ability to work with an IPad. Annotation and control of the projector can all happen from an Apple IPad. Special interactive pen sold separately.
Bright at 3100 lumens
Ultra short throw which produces a very large image and the projector only has to be inches away from the screen.
Incredible image when using either HDMI or the standard VGA input from your laptop.

NEC U310W Projector: Cons

Generally must be ceiling mounted for it to be most effective.
Has a filter and a standard lamp so maintenance will be more frequent than other types of projectors with LED light technology.
Does not except 3D content from a Blu-ray player.