Looking for a cheapish projector...

[postcardcv]

I am looking for advice on buying my first projector as I am not sure what I want or need...

I am involved in a small photography group which is aiming to teach some basics to beginners and allow us to help each other out with problems as we have them. It will be used in a mid sized room being viewed by 10-20 people. It will be used to display photos for discussion and also to demo some processing techniques. I'm not even sure what sort of resolution I need it to be! The group is just a casual thing so doesn't have any budget to buy one so I will be buying it myself so don't want to spend more than I have too. Ideally the budget would be sub £300 but if I can't get what I need for that I will have to think again.

 

[postcardcv]

Just thought I would update in case anyone else found themselves looking for a projector and stumbled upon this thread...

I did a bit of research and after initially thinking I could get away with a 800x600 projector I was advised to go for 1024 x 768 (XGA) instead. After talking to a few people I managed to see a couple of projectors in action and decided that an XGA one was the way to you. I am sure a higher res HD one would be better but they were way beyond my budget. I also discounted the small LED ones as I wanted one with a fairly decent lumens rating to I could use it in a wide range of situations.

After a bit of googling I ended up ordering an Epson EB-X02 from amazon - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Epson-EB-X02-2600-Lumens-Projector/dp/B0062H6J3M it arrived on Monday so I have had a chance to try it out. It is very easy to set up and use - plug it in and connect to the laptop with the supplied cable. The image it projects is clear and bright even when used in a well lit room in the middle of the day. Now I just need to have a play with trying to connect my phone to it!