Computer screen in a meeting room

[davidbrt]

Hello

I run a small business where there are three mortgage advisers. We all have our own desks and pc's but we have a meeting room where we want to meet clients to go through their options. How is best to display what we would use our day to day pc's for in that room on a screen large enough for people to see while in the private meeting room?

A suggestion is we all use laptops then plug into them into a big screen monitor (which type?!) but am concerned about using a laptop during the day without a decent keyboard and smaller screen.

Any ideas?!

[AlBags]

A projector is probably your best option. Laptops work well with them.
My father of 78 has no problems doing his slideshows and other stuff with one.
There are several here ..
http://www.ebay.co.uk...at=See-All-Categories

[DC_FC]

A projector is definitley the best option, make sure which ever 1 you get that you get the right cable that would connect the 2 together

[ChuckFickens]

Seem people aren't reading questions.

I'd hope that what all of you use on your day to day computers is pretty standard across the board, and therefore can easily be replicated on one other computer with very little trouble. (if not, it should be!)

So I'd say your easiest option for your situation and a company of 3/4 people would be one half decent business spec laptop and a flat screen LCD tv of an appropriate size. make sure the laptop has got the correct software installed on it for the presentations to clients and then the advisors should be able to use either (simple) usb memory sticks, or (more elegant) the network to display their work on the screen.

[AlBags]

Well I can certainly read .. the screen was a suggestion.
But that route may well be an expensive option, as all 'PC's' or laptops will maybe have to be replaced or upgraded, and there is the cost of a large FS Monitor?

£4-6000 maybe? Good at spending other peoples money, aren't you?

[Hammer]

Chuck's spot on. £4-6k for a flat screen? Are you having a laugh? Here's one for less than £300.

http://www.pcworld.co...tor-10747078-pdt.html

[ChuckFickens]

Why on earth would all PC's or laptops have to be replaced too?

It is possible to run, for example, a power point presentation on a different computer than what it was written on you know.

A £300 flat screen TV and a £200 (or less) desktop computer (or a laptop) connected to it with the correct software to display whatever they want on the screen and they can do presentations on the large screen.

[AlBags]

Hammer ... That's a ruddy 27"! You that's having a laugh.
Gonna supply opera glasses with that?

Fact is .. average meeting room at 18-20' ..
One projector can take any laptop or some can display USB content.
Projector can display all sorts of wall size images, at as good a resolution.
It is also fully portable and can be used for any other presentations out of the office or at home, etc.
Add the cost of a decent monitor (not the budget home stuff you like) and the fitting/rigging .. and the cost of laptops/PC/ and other expenses .. it will be thousands.
There really is no contest.
Even Ford Motor Company use projectors in their conference rooms.

[Hammer]

Yes but we're not talking about a conference room, we're talking about a mortgage advisor running through some options with a customer. Not sure about you but I've never sat in a 20ft room to do that before. This is obviously a v small business with no IT dept, so the quickest, easiest and cheapest way to do it is to kit out the meeting room with it's own PC (or laptop) and a monitor big enough for 2 or 3 people to look at. 27" is more than enough for that and I fail to see how it would run into thousands.

[LeMarchand]

If I understand you correctly, you basically want to occasionally use your PCs in a different room with a larger screen. I'd go for the "larger monitor" option, or even a TV if you want to go very big. As for the "computer" element, another suggestion: depending on your setup/where the room is, you get a netbook/laptop/small PC with wireless (or if you have a server you could use Cat5) and use remote viewing software to control your PCs from the room. That way everyone can just their own computer (without moving it) in the room. Hardest bit would be training everyone on using the remote viewing software.

[davidbrt]

Thanks for all your answers - really helpful. You are right - its not a huge firm (Yet!) but the meeting room is probably about 14ft x 8ft, and about the furthest anyone will be away would be about 8ft. It isnt a solution to simply put powerpoint presentations - we need to actually use software in front of the clients, and give different options, play with figures to see what impact things have, so we need to use different inputs from each laptop.