5 reasons you should get a projector for your PC

If you’re building out your next setup, you’re probably trying to decide which monitor to use—or perhaps which monitors to choose—because you want a multi-monitor setup for peak productivity. But I bet there’s one display type that you haven’t already considered: a high-resolution projector. Now, if you’ve used any of the aged projectors in the conference room at work for presentations, I don’t blame you for not thinking about them as your primary display. But they’ve gotten excellent in recent years, with advances in LED light sources that mean they’re essentially silent, a far cry from the loud fans of incandescent bulbs. Here’s why you should at least think about them as an option.

5 Gaming on a huge screen is awesome

And productivity uses aren’t bad, either

Even fairly affordable projectors these days have a 60Hz refresh rate, which is plenty for playing single-player games or any multiplayer titles that don’t require twitchy reaction speeds. But the projector has one big advantage over any desktop monitor, and that’s the size it can project up to. With recent projectors with 1600 lumens or more easily able to go up to 120 inches if you have a big enough wall, they’re amazing for RPGs, FPSes, or side-scrollers.

Even fast-paced action games are fair game, especially if you get one of the projectors designed for gaming use, which can project a Full HD 1080p screen at up to 240Hz. That’s like having a movie theater screen that’s as speedy as the latest OLED monitors, but in your own living room. That’s amazing to me, and I find I like laying back and playing games more now that they take up the entirety of an office wall. For the best color accuracy, you’ll want to get an ambient light-reflecting (ALR) screen to project on to, as even the best white paint isn’t going to reflect the projector’s light accurately.

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4 So is watching movies

Leave the small screens behind

Many of us use our computers for all our entertainment, but there’s something that feels wrong to me about watching movies on the same smaller screen that I’ve been working on for eight hours, even if that screen is OLED. But I have no similar worries about firing up the projector and streaming my Plex server’s contents while I’m decompressing or checking out which streaming services have new series for me to binge. And I don’t have to worry about setting up speakers, or making sure my headphones are charged, or anything else, because a decent projector should also come with good onboard audio. The market has come a long way since the days of VGA-only projectors, and almost anything with an HDMI input will do a good job of playing movies or other content.

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Most projectors don’t have built-in Netflix, but your PC does

Nowadays, most projectors aren’t just a way of displaying content from another device; they’re often fully-fledged media streamers running some version of Android. That’s useful for most streaming services, as you don’t need another device to supply content, but many of these projectors are lacking important services like Netflix, because they haven’t gone through the compulsory certification stages. But you know what device has Netflix on pretty much any configuration you can make? Your desktop PC, which can be turned into a Home Theater PC pretty easily. The bonus to using a projector here is that you can keep your PC at your desk, and don’t have to struggle with wireless peripherals or moving it closer to the TV for optimal HDMI range.

Then, you’re not tied down to any streaming stick’s operating system, can block ads and tracking from streaming services, and have more powerful hardware to handle the streamed media. You can also play local files or even Blu-ray content if you have the correct combination of optical drive and previous-generation hardware that supports the disc-based format. And by adding Plex, Jellyfin, or Emby to the mix, you can get your own home theater set up with a minimum of fuss.

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2 They’re easier on your eyes

Reflected light is less damaging than emitted light

It’s not just benefits to your viewing experience that a projector can bring. They can bring health benefits as well, since the reflected light they use is less harmful than the direct blue light generated by your monitor. That’s partly because the screen absorbs some of the harmful wavelengths on the way, so they don’t reach your eyes. The larger picture reduces eye strain, because it’s easier for your eyes to make out detail when it doesn’t have to strain to see smaller features. Even while coding or browsing the internet, the larger screen will help, but you might need to play with the scaling to find the sweet spot between text and other elements being too small or too large.

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1 They’re not slow anymore

Newer projectors come with low latency and high refresh rates

It’s not that many years ago that every projector was 30Hz or lower and had such low resolution that you could barely make out PowerPoint slides, let alone use them for productivity tasks or gaming. But that was then, and nowadays, even budget projectors can do 1080p at 60Hz, and the more premium models come with high refresh rates and gaming-specific features that make them just as usable as a desktop monitor. They’re even able to do this while keeping color accuracy and covering 100% of the DCI-P3 gamut, like on the BenQ X3100i, which can do 1080p at 240Hz for fast multiplayer gaming or 4K at 60Hz for more sedate single-player experiences. Once you’ve played on your entire wall at the same latency and refresh rate as your desktop monitor, you might not want to go back.

BenQ X3100i

$2200 $2400 Save $200

Projectors built for PC and gaming use are fantastic additions to your PC setup. This flagship BenQ X3100i has 4K resolution, with 3,300 lumens of brightness and a 60Hz refresh rate. It can also be used in various modes for faster refresh rates, like Full HD at 240Hz.

Using a projector with your PC isn’t just for presentations

Modern projectors are a world apart from the low-resolution models ubiquitous in conference rooms around the world. They’re higher resolution, and come with fast refresh rates with high brightness and color accuracy. So much so that they’re easily usable as a PC display, and they’re worth checking out if you want something a little different with your next setup.