The Interactive whiteboard has been around now for some time. Invented by Smart Technologies back in the early nineties, single handedly this technology changed classrooms around the world. However, today, what we are seeing is that many Interactive Whiteboards are coming to the end of their active lives. They have been in situ some for almost 10 years and are desperately in need of replacing. I was talking with a school district not too long ago that was telling me that they employ one person full time, so this is a fifty grand a year job with the usual benefits you would expect with working in eduction and their sole job was to go round the district changing bulbs on their Interactive whiteboard to keep them in service. Expensive.
Let’s face it, we’ve all looked at the image on an interactive whiteboard which gets greyer by the day and if we have a hint of sunshine we cant see it at all. Let’s take a look at some of the reasons why we should be looking at replacing interactive whiteboards.
If you would like a much more in depth look at the whole process, check out our free eBook entitled “Bring Back my Whiteboard’ we look at all the reasons for replacing and offer expert tips and tricks to help you all along the way. Http://touchittechnologies.com/ebook/
Cost of Ownership
You may find it hard to believe, but as prices have come down and we highlight this below, the total cost of ownership has dramatically reduced. I would go as far as to argue that interactive flat panels are actually cheaper over their active life than their whiteboard counterparts. This is really due to the lifespan of the product (about 11 years with 8 hours a day use) and the fact that you dont have to replace a build every thousand hours. If you are replacing 10 bulbs over the lifetime of the unit, that is somewhere between two and three thousand dollars of additional cost. Something to bear in mind.
Image Quality
Putting the dull image that you are probably looking at on your Interactive Whiteboard aside, let’s look at the image benefits of an Interactive Flat panel over our projector and Interactive Whiteboard. Resolution – the LEDs have much higher resolution with pretty much all models now coming in 4K resolution. Higher contrast ratio – this makes for a clean a crisp image with more vivid colors enabling the students to see smaller text and images at the back of the room. The technology is quite simply a lot better.
Prices are Coming Down
Prices of this technology are definitely coming down. To give you an idea, about 6 years ago we launched our then largest size interactive LCD as it was then the 82”. This retailed for almost sixteen thousand dollars! Today, our 86” runs at less than seven thousand so they are much more attainable in terms of price.
Easier to use with less barriers to use
What exactly do I mean by this? Firstly, most interactive LEDs like the ones that TouchIT Technologies manufacture don’t need drivers. They also don’t need calibration. This makes life so much easier and removes a barrier to use. With interactive whiteboards you were always needing to calibrate the surface if the projector had moved or been knocked – a daily chore especially as the hardware got older and older. What if you tired to plug in a laptop that IT hadn’t installed the drivers on – well that would put pay to that interactive class. Interactive Flat panels today are plug and play; they just work.
Nothing to maintain
There are no filters to clean. There are no bulbs to change. In short, there are no serviceable parts on an interactive LED. At best you need a damp cloth to clean the surface once in a while. This makes life very easy to look after this new hardware.
Easier to Install
The fact that these Interactive Flat Panels can just be hung on a wall makes the whole installation process a lot easier. The projector alignment alone used to be such a cumbersome and time consuming task. That has all been removed with the Interactive flat panel.
