Anyone who’s on the hunt for a cheap and cheerful portable projector this Christmas could do a whole lot worse than check out HP Projector’s latest creation. 

The company has just come up with what looks to be one of the cheapest projectors ever announced - the HP Projector CC200 – which is a compact, cube-shaped device that can easily fit onto a bedside or coffee table and from there, throw up an 80-inch image onto any nearby wall. 

The unit features an LED light source that’s capable of generating a Full HD picture from a distance of just 2.1 metres away, making the device ‘almost’ fit into the ultra-short throw category. The images offer a max brightness of 200 lumens – not a lot, but enough when you’re tucked up in bed with the lights switched off, certainly. The kight source is rated at 20,000 hours. 

The HP Projector CC200 also comes with motorised focusing with a 1.2:1 throw ratio that can be controlled using the provided remote control, so setup should be relatively simple.

It comes with various slots in the back to connect a laptop, hard drive or external speaker, with two USBs, one HDMI and one 3.5mm audio-out available.

On the other hand, the HP Projector CC200 does not provide any built-in wireless connectivity, or indeed, any kind of Smart TV platform such as Android TV. So you’ll have to get your content from somewhere else, and HP Projector seems to think it will pair perfectly with a streaming stick from a company such as Roku. 

Indeed, if you live in the U.S., you can buy the HP Projector CC200 now for just $259,99 (around £189) in a bundle that also includes a handy screen and the Roku Express Media Player streaming stick.

As tempting as that offer may be, it’s still a slightly unusual way of doing things, as even the most affordable portable projectors these days have tended to come with something like Android TV on board. 

What with its limited resolution and brightness, added to the hassle of needing to connect a second device as a content source, the HP Projector CC200 clearly isn’t going to suit everyone’s tastes. But with a price tag that’s about as low as it’s possible to get for this kind of device, HP Projector is obviously confident there will be some takers. 

The HP Projector CC200 is said to be coming to Amazon soon, but it’s not clear if or when it will appear in markets besides the U.S.