Presentation Remote Pro
Company: Keyspan
Price: $79
www.keyspan.com
Do you need a remote for controlling slide shows and other presentations on your Mac, but you don’t have a newer Mac that came with an Apple remote? Do you have an Apple remote for your computer, but it doesn’t have enough features for your needs? If you answered yes to either of these questions, the Keyspan Presentation Remote Pro might be what you are looking for.
The Presentation Remote Pro is packed full of features. The most important feature being that it will control your presentations. It controls Powerpoint presentations, Keynote presentation, iPhoto slideshows, Quicktime slideshows, and it even controls switching tracks in iTunes (I had to try, and it worked!). In addition to controlling the visual part of the presentation, it also has volume control buttons to remotely control the audio part of your presentation.
For those who want to point out details on a presentation from a distance, it has a laser pointer. You can even black out the screen with the push of one button on the remote.
Those features alone would make this a great presentation remote. However, the remote is also a mouse (in a matter of speaking)! The top of the remote has two buttons that coincide with the left and right buttons on a mouse. There is also a mouse button, similar to those on some laptops, that will control your pointer on the screen. On the side of the unit is another button that acts like a scroll wheel. Using the remote to control the mouse was actually easier than I expected.
As far as performance, the remote is fantastic. It works from 100 feet away, and I had no problems in my tests. The remote performed without delay, and always did what I expected.
Set up is also easy. The remote consists of two parts: the remote itself and the receiver. The receiver looks like a small USB thumbdrive, and plugs into the USB port. There are no drivers needed. It is plug and play. If the remote and the receiver are not talking to each other, there is an easy method for reconnecting. The remote runs on two AAA batteries (included), and the receiver is powered by the computer. An on/off switch helps conserve battery life (assuming you remember to turn it off).
My favorite part about the remote is that I don’t have to worry about losing the receiver. When not in use, the USB receiver slides into the remote itself, where it locks into place (springloaded).
With all of these features, the Keyspan Presentation Remote is well worth the $79 price. It is compatible with OSX, Windows computers, and even OS 9. Some features will be disabled due to the operating system you use.
It is always nice to try out a product that does what it says it is going to do, and it does it well.
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