Unlike many others in the peripherals field, BenQ takes its budget products as seriously as its high-end ones, with individual technologies filtering through its ranges based on need rather than money-saving

Great bulb life of 3,000 hours, High contrast ratio, Excellent value for money

Boxy design, Minimal set-up options, Average colour saturation

If you can put its boxy design out of your mind, this is a great-value model from BenQ

The Optoma HD70 represents a breakthrough in the pricing of home projectors; it's an HD-ready, 720p DPL projector for under £700. If you were thinking of getting a home theatre set-up, and thought 480p was all your budget could afford, think again

Good build inside and out, Well-endowed power supply, Decent ergonomics, Good value, Decent image quality, Easy to operate, HD-ready (HDMI port)

Lacks bi-ampable front speakers, Can't transcode from analogue to HDMI digital video, No DVI port, No carry bag

The Optoma is a good all-round performer: it's enjoyable to use and the price is great

Usually, an 800x600 LCD projector will have a visible grid, but this one is different. By using a 0.7-inch LCD panel, ViewSonic has greatly reduced the chicken-wire effect to give a far more pleasing final image

Excellent colour performance, Good all-round features, Reduced 'chicken-wire' effect

Washed-out dark colours, Poor contrast ratio, Only SVGA resolution

A poor contrast ratio hinders the ViewSonic, although it's a reasonably good all-rounder

Many similar projectors are pretty much dedicated film projectors that happen to be able to handle computer inputs, but this one is a dedicated presentation projector that can handle films, if you want it to

Includes a carry case, 1.6:1 zoom lens, Reasonable colour

Poor movie and Mac performance, Another one that's a bit loud, Poor scaling

Poor all-round performance isn't good for a projector that's supposed to excel when used with a computer

If this projector doesn't make you sit up and pay attention, nothing will. Obviously crafted to be a home projector from the ground up, its enormous 1.6x zoom lens is its most striking visual feature

A truly affordable HDTV projector, Excellent resolution, Very quiet operation, Great film/data quality after fiddling

It's a big, bulky unit, It can be tricky to get the best out of it

The Hitachi doesn't claim to specialise - and doesn't have to. It's great at everything

We almost dropped this projector in shock when we saw the price. It's rare to find a projector for less than £500 and even rarer to find one this cheap that performs decently

Outstanding value, Good for film viewing, Results respectable for the price

Less than spectacular for PC display, Oversaturation with bright colours, Lowest lumens output on test

A thoroughly decent buy, though film purists may prefer to spend a little extra money to get a less-saturated picture

The X range from InFocus is the potato of the projector world: it mightnot be the most exciting thing on the market but it isn't half versatile. The X3 is the latest in this range

XGA for less than £800, Excellent lumens output, Top-notch colour ratio, Good film and performance with Macs

Way too loud on full power, Terrible preset modes

One of the finest all-rounders, only let down by poor colour vibrancy and noisy operation

Apparently, not all DLPs are built the same. On paper, the H27 seems almost identical to others. But the proof of the pudding is in the eating and we certainly enjoyed gorging on this tasty projector

Excellent movie quality, Very quiet in use

Not great for computer work, Hardly inspired pricing, Long-throw projection, Excellent contrast ratio

Excellent for film, adequate for use with the Mac, with an obvious price point

Part of Toshiba's home projector range, the TDPMT200 is specifically designed to be a movie projector. This largely comes from the use of the widescreen DLP technology, which is perfect for showing films

Great film performance, Quiet in operation, No 'rainbow effect'

Only really designed for movies, Mac images not that sharp, Menu system confusing and slow to use

An otherwise excellent unit marred by its desktop display results and a slightly haughty price tag