Review: Targus wireless presenter

Originally published in GP magazine .

Written for GP magazine around 2004. This is the version I submitted - the published article may have been edited.

One of the things I like about being a GP is the wide range of things it allows me to do. Recently I seem to have been giving a lot of talks, which are mainly in PowerPoint. When giving a talk I try to stand up and walk around to engage the audience; however, I am often limited by the fact that I need to return to the computer to press a key or use the mouse. One speaker I watched held the mouse at arm’s length with the cable taut and pressed the buttons when he wanted to change slide. Although a wireless mouse would avoid the cable problem, it wouldn’t allow you to use the other mouse functions. Luckily I have found a superb gadget from Targus called the wireless presenter (www.targus.co.uk), which is a wireless mouse and laser pointer that doesn’t need a flat surface to work on.

The presenter is small and lightweight and comes in two bits. One bit is a receiver dongle that plugs into a USB port on the computer; the other is the pointer itself. The pointer is just a bit smaller than a mouse and has a big circular pad in the middle that allows you to control the on-screen mouse. It has a couple of buttons that act as the left and right mouse buttons and a switch that turns the buttons into next and previous slide buttons in PowerPoint - a useful feature. It also has a laser pointer in the top. So now you can point at things on the screen and change slide at the same time, all without having to look away or hurry back to the computer.

The dongle, once plugged in, is automatically recognised by computers that run Windows 2000 or XP. For computers with Windows 98 or ME a driver needs to be installed. Once installed, the normal mouse still works. I take it with me even if I am not using my computer equipment, as it is easily plugged in, and as it can’t pass on viruses like a floppy disk no one has ever objected.

It runs off normal batteries and has an auto standby mode to conserve battery power. Of course, the amount you use it will determine how often you have to change the batteries. The range of the pointer is about 10m, which should be plenty even for people who like to pace. I have not had any problems with it, but if there are several other wireless devices around then you can change the channel it works on for better reception. There is an excellent instruction booklet with it.

It costs £35 including VAT, which is very affordable for such a useful gadget.