About Laser Pointers, Optical Pointers, Tablets and General Remote Mousing

About About Laser Pointers, Optical Pointers, Tablets and General Remote Mousing

Laser pointers built into the remotes of projectors are generally considered a bad idea, if the teacher is going to pass control of the remote to students so they can show their work.  As a result many companies have dropped including laser pointers, and instead added an optical pointing system – basically remote mousing, so that a graphic pointer can be selected (it might be a red dot to look like a laser, or an arrow, or whatever the manufacturer can think of).

The advantage of the laser is that it is fast and precise.  With optical pointing and mouse movements few projectors offer control beyond four arrow keys, and rarely have the ability to move diagonally.  Thus, the laser works the best, but due to safety concerns, is less likely to be an available option.