Targus Wireless Remote Presenter mouse

The Targus Notebook Presenter is a no-frills device that 'does what it says on the can'.

I use Powerpoint extensively for training small groups of up to 20 people in a classroom setting. It's great to get away from the laptop and mix with the class. I can also cope with those annoyingly laid out conference rooms where the connection to the ceiling projector means my laptop needs to be well away from where I can stand.

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...and screen. I can now move freely among my audience, control the presentation and access other applications when I need to. The built in laser pointer lets me point out aspects of each slide without standing in the projector beam to wave my hands at the screen.

The small and light hand held controller provides 2 button mouse, next slide, last slide and pointer functions. This talks wirelessly to a small receiver that plugs into a USB ... more

The Targus Notebook Presenter is a no-frills device that 'does what it says on the can'.

I use Powerpoint extensively for training small groups of up to 20 people in a classroom setting. It's great to get away from the laptop and mix with the class. I can also cope with those annoyingly laid out conference rooms where the connection to the ceiling projector means my laptop needs to be well away from where I can stand.

The Notebook Presenter lets me stand away from the laptop and screen. I can now move freely among my audience, control the presentation and access other applications when I need to. The built in laser pointer lets me point out aspects of each slide without standing in the projector beam to wave my hands at the screen.

The small and light hand held controller provides 2 button mouse, next slide, last slide and pointer functions. This talks wirelessly to a small receiver that plugs into a USB prort on my laptop. A 10 metre range is fine for classroom work though for 'theatre size' rooms it could be a limitation.

The system requirements are Windows 9x, Win2K or XP with USB support. It worked fine in my colleague's Mac at a recent conference; no drivers are required. The unit worked straight out of the box with my XP desktop system and Win2K laptop. I travel a lot so the light weight and carry pouch are just what I need.

In Presentation Mode I found that the next/last slide buttons were easier to use than the up/down keys on the laptop's keyboard. For simple Powerpoint presentations this provides all the functions I need. However some colleagues found Left Button = Forward, Right Button = Back to be unintuitive. What's missing is integration with Powerpoint keyboard functions like Blank screen (B) and White screen (W). It also does not integrate well when Powerpoint is in two screen mode and the presenter screen is on the laptop. The button codes don't match Powerpoint's keyboard choices for this mode. So if you do use this feature of Powerpoint the device is not for you.

The Presenter also includes a Mouse mode that is selected by toggling with the Function button. A Mode indicator on the controller would be a useful addition; it can be annoying to get a popup menu from a right mouse click when what you wanted to do was go back a slide. I have never found the mouse mode useful and would use another device instead.

I've been using my presenter now for over three years so we can assume it's reliable! At €29.95 in the airport shop (Helsinki) this is astonishing value for money! 

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