Williams Pelegrin
As with previous years, this year’s CES is full of giant TVs from Vizio, LG, and more. However, there’s something to be said about not confining yourself to one wall in one room and using a portable projector at home. To that end, Epson today announced the EF-100 mini-laser streaming projector.
The EF-100 is chock full of hardware features, the highlight being its multi-array laser. The tech allows for up to 2,000 lumens of brightness for color and white. You’ll still want to use the projector in the dark for the best image quality, but it’s nice to know the image will likely look good during the day. The 3-Chip 3LCD tech means the image will look color-accurate, while the nine-element lens structure keeps the picture distortion-free. There’s also vertical auto keystone correction to avoid a slanted image when projecting on your ceiling.
Continuing on the hardware front, the EF-100 natively displays images at 1,200 x 800 resolution. That said, the maximum resolution does reach 1080p. The image size can stretch from 22 to 150 inches on the diagonal. The projector doesn’t have a built-in battery, so make sure there’s an outlet nearby. There are ports for 3.5mm stereo output, HDMI, USB Type-A, and USB Mini-B.
On the software front, the EF-100 runs Android TV. Sort of. Whereas something like the Anker Nebula Capsule II features built-in Android TV, the EF-100 runs the software from an included dongle. The dongle might sound like an inconvenience, but that means you can use the Chromecast or Fire TV Streaming Stick in its place. If you stick with the Android TV dongle, you get access to the Play Store and apps like Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube TV, and more. You even have access to Netflix, something no projector with built-in Android TV can say.
The EF-100 will be available this month for $1,000 and come in two models: the EF-100W and EF-100B. The only difference between the two models is the colorway: white and silver for the EF-100W, black and copper for the EF-100B.
