1) Projector:
Go with the Dell. The Wonderwall is notorious for just not having a lot of light output (lumens) and has a mximum diagonal image size of 72 inches (6 feet). You already expressed to me in a thread in the beta forums that you had some projection distance/angle issues to contend with... the Wonderwall will not meet any of those criteria since it is limited to 6'. The Dell is a DLP projector... Without getting into the exact specifics, DLP technology tends to deliver real life lumens closer to the rated output (in this case 1200). Your projector has to compete with lots of Christmas lights... so, go for the added brightness! Neither are a high end luxury vehicle, but you might as well get a Corolla as opposed to a go-kart.
2) As for hard limits: XGA can be run at 150'... but it takes a bit of work and know-how (skill) to accomplish this (breakout adapters and precise runs of multiple coax). So, no, your 30' is not out of the question, but some other details will affect whether it is a good choice for you or not:
Will you be sending just VGA (640x480) down the cable or one of the other sizes (800x600 [SVGA], 1024x768 [XGA], etc.)?
I ask because you are in the gray area at 30'. If you are just sending 640x480, any 'ol middle-grade SVGA cable of the 30' length will likely do just fine. If you are sending one of the other higher resolution formats though, the quality of the cable does count... you will get real bad ghosting/standing waves/etc. on a cheap cable at 30'. Since you are looking at a cheap projector ($50-$200 range), a good packaged cable could cost nearly that alone. If you don't care about ghosting: $30; if you care about ghosting $75. If you are going to go "possibly more" above the 30' mark... any resolution is going to need a very good cable. At 50' you'll be spending as much as the projector on one for sure. At 100 foot you'll need to switch to breakout boxes and all of that complication.
If I woke up in your shoes (having your low budget and requirements), I would do the following:
1) Go with the Dell 2200MP
2) Adapt the laptop S-Video to composite (using the one that came with the laptop or a DIY solution of two connectors and a capacitor like this one: http://www.tkk.fi/Misc/Electronics/circuits/svideo2cvideo.html - http://www.tkk.fi/Misc/Electronics/circuits/svideo2cvideo.html )
3) Buy 30' (or whatever length you need up to about 200') of RG-59 cable (by the foot) from Lowes. Crimp an RG-59 connector on each end. Get two "Male RCA to Female F Connector" adapters from Rat Shack or some other vendor which will not mark them up 10x their real value. Screw on the adapters... instant high quality video cable for about $10).
Would I install this solution somewhere or use it permanently? No. I absolutely prefer the higher res formats to the video ones and would recommend them 99% of the time. Will it meet Jonathan's requirements: yes.... quite reasonably.... and he can always upgrade to SVGA (the highest res of the 2200MP) another year.
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