Last week a Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter turned up in the post. I’ve tried some wireless PC display connectors before, and the general rule seemed to be they were clunky, unreliable, and not that user friendly. This however, changes that. This is WiDi/ Miracast as it should be; easy to set up and simple to use.

Once out of the box it was a simple matter of plugging the HDMI and USB connections into the back of the display screen (a Samsung 48-inch Slim LED TV) in the office and selecting the appropriate HDMI input on the screen’s remote. The display then shows the Microsoft Logo and the identifier of the Wireless Display Adapter so you know which screen to connect to.

Setup in Windows 10 was a breeze, the Wireless Display Adapter was spotted straight away and configured in just a couple of clicks. Once connected the wireless screen acts just like an additional monitor, you can do all the usual Extend/ Duplicate/ PowerPoint presentation mode tricks that can be done with a wired display.

Connection from a Lumia 735 Windows phone was also straightforward, only a couple of taps in the settings menu was all it took to bring the phone display up on the big screen.

Within a couple of minutes of unboxing I was playing video from my Surface Pro 3 wirelessly on the big screen, complete with the audio feed coming out of the big screen speakers.

So, the downsides. Well, connecting from an Android device wasn’t quite as straightforward (despite the Droid logo on the packaging) and the Compatibility Chart on Microsoft’s website shows it’s a bit picky about Android versions (it lists 4.2 and 5.0 as being compatible). Apple devices, both iOS and Mac OSX are out- even though the Mac has an Intel chipset so you’d expect it to support the Intel standard.

However, despite those compatibility issues, in a primarily Windows environment it’s ideal. Any meeting room or lecture hall where a wired connection is going to be provided anyway the Apple users can be catered for and it makes a nice (and affordable) addition.

#Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter

A photo posted by @startmenu on Dec 18, 2015 at 4:10am PST