Buying a new projector

[fanin]

Hi. I apologize in advance if this is in the wrong section, but I had no idea where to put it.
I'm going to buy a projector for myself and I'm wondering what to look for in a projector. What brand name, lumens, resolution, DVI or HMDI or other. I've read about these things but it's impossible to find good reviews of projectors anywhere, and by good reviews i don't mean reading what the sellers of the product have to say, but owners.
I live in an apartment where I can dim the lights a lot so i'm guessing that it wont need a whole bunch of lumens (2000 or so should do it), the space available to project on is about 3,5x2,3 meters (I'm not saying I'll be using the full size), and i'm not really interested in EXTREMELY high quality. I'm only going to use it for movies, and possibly some gaming and I want to use as much space as possible with a fair amount of quality.
another thing is that I want to run it from a laptop. Should I invest in a good laptop for this kinda thing?. if so what specs would you recommend if it was only used for movies and games and nothing else?

Since i'm ordering from Denmark, these are the brands available to me at the moment:

3M
ACCO Brands
Acer
AIPTEK
ASUS
BenQ
Canon
Dell
Epson
Fujitsu
Hitachi
HP
InFocus
LG
NEC
Optoma
Panasonic
Sony
V7
ViewSonic

If there is a brand I should stay away from or pay more attention to, please let me know
actually I'm just asking for good tips on buying my first projector
any help would be much appreciated

 

[americanaudiophile]

Check out Epson. They are the largest manufacturer and have many models. Their best model is the Procinema 6010 which is great. Screen size is based on the distance from the screen. 2-3 times the diagonal is fine for most people. You will need a 16:9 aspect ratio screen. 1080p is a given as is HDMI. 3D capability may or may not matter to you. Get a laptop with HDMI output and you will need an AV system that will give you sound and HDMI switching.

 

[fanin]

I saw that this post had a few views and decided to write about the projector that i bought i hopes that it might help someone else looking

I bought a BenQ w1060 about 1 year ago and have been using it alot. so far i've spent just under 1700 hours and have had absolutely no problems with it. (they say it can last up to 6000 hours if kept in eco mode) i've had it on eco-mode since i bought it and there isn't that much of a difference between eco and normal-mode. i also had the ability to make the room completely dark which makes it look alot better since it's 2000 ANSI lumens.
the screen is about 300x175cm and the projector hangs about 5 meters away from the screen and i am only using a white wall and it works fine.
i have a laptop set to with a hdmi cable and so far every movie/show i watched works fine and i also have played games with big picture (steam) on it and haven't had any problems with it so far.
the picture looks fantastic and would recommend this projector to anyone.