Dangbei Atom review: A top compact projector for casual gaming

Our Verdict

The Dangbei Atom isn't a gaming projector and I wouldn't recommend it for serious or competitive sessions. But it's a sleek, all-in-one option for watching movies and TV and more than fine for occasional play. Easy to set up, focus and move about, the Atom is a well-priced streaming projector with all your favorite apps, a solid 1200 ISO lumens brightness and two Dolby speakers to round off the package.

Reasons to buy

• Super compact and quiet
• Can be viewed with some ambient light
• Google TV is fantastic

Reasons to avoid

• Few connections (one HDMI)
• Chunky power cable
• Quiet built-in speakers

The projector market is beaming bright right now, with brands constantly trying to lure media connoisseurs and gamers away from flat-screen TVs and monitors – which require a lot of space in your home. The Dangbei Atom laser projector marks just how far consumer technology has come in a few years, packing Google TV and that vast world of smart apps into a small box measuring just over 7 inches wide.

The compact Atom was released at the beginning of 2024, and it cements Chinese brand Dangbei as a serious maker of smart projectors for home entertainment. But how does it stack up against the best gaming projectors? In this review, I’ve put it to good use over several months to find out.

One of the Atom’s most promising perks is the 40-180-inch display size, meaning you can install it in pretty much any room with enough blank wall space (preferably of light or neutral color). Its brightness is also high, while on paper, features like autofocus and auto-keystone are designed to help you create a perfectly sharp and shaped picture as and when you move the Atom about from room to room. On paper is one thing, but here are my experiences with the Dangbei Atom in real life.

Dangbei Atom Specifications:

Design

Projectors of all types used to be hulking great lumps, that required a trolly to move around and keep stable. Of course, we’ve moved on from those days, and the Dangbei Atom is proof of that. At under 2 inches thick and weighing less than my laptop, the Atom is designed to be compact and carryable – more so for moving to different rooms in the house than necessarily taking out with you. Although I did take it to a friend’s house for a movie night during my testing period.

In short, the Atom is little enough to fit comfortably in most gaming rooms or bedrooms, and thanks to its low weight you can pop it on a side table without causing strain. A rubber ring on the underside also prevents scratching glossy surfaces like glass.

The Atom is made from dark gray plastic with a subtle sheen, and its square casing is neat. The exterior is smooth to the touch and feels surprisingly premium despite its lightweight chops, and although it’s slightly susceptible to fingerprints, they can be wiped off easily. Apart from a cooling vent at the rear, you don’t get any protruding parts to accidentally knock, which could cause damage over time.

At the back is an HDMI, USB, power port, and a 3.5mm audio jack for headphones or computer speakers. However, this projector can easily be used as an all-in-one, with two 5W Dolby speakers on either side of the unit. The unit has a tripod thread on its base, and mounting it on one of my camera tripods was the easiest way for me to position it high enough. Of course, this thread also works with ceiling or wall mounts – perfect if you plan to keep it as a permanent fixture.

There are no controls on the Dangbei Atom, as you navigate the Smart TV projector entirely with the included remote. It’s long, thin, and surprisingly weighty, looking like a bigger Fire TV remote. As you’d expect there are buttons for the power and volume, as well as Google Assistant, YouTube, Netflix, and Prime Video. Two side keys provide quick access to focus and audio settings, but you can’t swap to your HDMI input without running through the Google TV interface.

Performance

Reviews are all about expectations, and weighing up the manufacturer’s claims against what the product does in real life. Is Dangbei pitching the Atom as a gaming projector? Absolutely not, but that doesn’t mean you can’t plug in a PC or laptop and enjoy a night of casual gaming on a bigger screen.

I found the picture was best viewed in a darkened room and struggled to see it clearly on a bright, sunny day, but this is standard for most projectors, even those at the premium end. The projector is capable of a screen size ranging from 40-180 inches, although Dangbei recommends 60-100 inches. At both extremes, I found the picture crisp and clear, and the smaller size was perfect for a compact spare room – an area where other projectors had struggled.

What’s most impressive about the Dangbei is its image correction, which is completely automatic for the most part unless you want to delve into the image correction menu. Auto Keystone Correction created a straight, well-angled image in about five seconds or less every time I moved the unit around to test this.

Not having a projector screen, but a house filled with mainly white or light gray walls, the colors from the projector always felt rich and accurate. Although when watching darker TV shows like the new Batman: Caped Crusader on Amazon Prime, the contrast of the shadowed areas could have been stronger. It was the same feeling when playing gloomy games, with opponents quite hard to see when lurking in the dark. Of course, Google TV comes with a raft of basic, free games (playable with the remote only) and these were bright and vibrant.

With only a USB2.0 and  HDMI-in port, the Atom is nowhere near as well-connected as most dedicated gaming projectors, but its plug-in-play operation was still flawless, with a laptop, mini gaming PC, and gaming console all plugged in and displaying within a few seconds. For me, the ease of use of this unit trumps connectivity, even if the Google TV app itself sometimes lagged and took about 10 seconds to reach the next screen.

Should You Buy?

• Yes: If you want a compact projector mainly for streaming
• Yes: If you’ve got limited space at home
• No: If you’re a serious gamer

Alternatives

If you’re a competitive gamer in need of specific playing firepower, BenQ is a brand with plenty of models to serve your needs.

Verdict

The Dangbei Atom is a generalist projector for casual gaming, capable of displaying TV shows, movies, and games up to a huge 180 inches. It shines (literally) in smaller rooms, too, thanks to its minimum 40-inch screen size. The Google TV ecosystem brings you a myriad of smart apps including Netflix, Prime, and Disney+, alongside some basic, free games on Google Play.

The Atom shines for portability, although batteries aren’t included.  It’s quick to set up and easy to move around, but the slower response rate and non-4K resolution will be an issue for competitive players. In short, it’s a lot of fun. Get it if you’re in the market for an affordable all-in-one streaming solution, rather than a class-leading gaming projector or monitor replacement.