Optoma ML500, Acer K330, Viewsonic PLED W500, How different are they?

At first glance you may think they are different as they have slightly different control panels but when you take a closer look you can tell they are almost identical.

These three projectors are all categorized  in between the micro projector and full size projectors.  Some argue they are still portable at almost 3 pounds while others love their true micro projectors which only weight 1 pound and are about half the size.

From the pictures that are available, its easy to see  that the optoma and viewsonic projectors have the same inputs and outputs.  They feature HDMI, USB, Mini USB, VGA, Composite A/V, S video, and Audio out.  The ACER K330 took 1 input away the S-Video as they decided there was not much of a need for S video with all the other connections readily available.

From the back these projectors look even more similar as all their components almost line up exactly.  Again the Acer K330 is SLIGHTLY different but still very much the same.

Its very interesting that 3 major projector manufacturers would be willing to make essentially the same product.  I guess portable projectors are getting that much more popular and even clones can sell.  As technologies continues to get better, real micro and pico projectors will hit the 400-500 lumens.  At that point things will get really exciting as everyone will need one.