The TPL-S10 comes from Toshiba's ultra-portable stable of projectors, and while not quite as small as say, the Proxima DP1000X, it still managed to fit a fair amount of goodness into a easily manageable size.

Its maximum display resolution was 800 x 600, although like most of the projectors here it was capable of interpolating higher resolutions (up to 1,600 x 1,200) down to those SVGA levels. Using it as a data projector - as it's primarily designed to be used - yielded a mix of good to average results. Its colours were nice and vibrant enough, but the low resolution and slightly blurred text and desktop marked this as a projector best left for the large fonts of PowerPoint presentations.

Nonetheless, while primarily designed for boardroom presentations, the TPL-S10 made a good fist of displaying DVD movies and games, even though it's only an SVGA projector.

With a modest 1,200 Ansi lumens rating, a mild 400:1 contrast ratio and 4:3 aspect ratio support, we were surprised by some of the results the TPL-S10 returned, particularly where dark black levels, white saturation levels and colours were concerned. There were only four other projectors that displayed a truly black black, which meant that you were able to get some decent, clear black levels when watching a movie instead of the lightly faded and washed-out blacks that other projectors offered. In other tests, such as the hard colour tests the TPL-S10 certainly gave some more expensive, better spec projectors a good run.

At a price/performance level, this projector was the standout model, with a higher ratio than any other model. Also, when it came to lamp life hours compared to the cost of replacement lamps, the TPL-S10 came second in the pack behind the Epson Dreamio EMP-TW10. Couple that with its price of $2,099, and you've got yourself one very cost-effective package.