4 top interactive whiteboards

Among the variety of equipment and accessories for studies, presentations and infobusiness, interactive boards occupy a special place. Being in essence a large touch screen, and functioning in close conjunction with a projector and computer control, such a device gives a lot of new opportunities to lecturers, coaches, other infobusiness specialists, and greatly facilitate their work. Today we will consider a short rating of interactive boards of various types and manufacturers, which experts of expert.bigbadmole.com/en/en/ considered to be the best in its class. But first, let's take a quick look at the classifications and give you some tips on choosing these kinds of devices.

How to choose an interactive whiteboard

Interactive boards quite significantly differ in the principle of operation and the implemented technological solutions. The choice of a particular model is often dictated by the combination of key technical characteristics. We will list them below, but to begin with some general universal tips.

General recommendations

Before buying such a very expensive thing as an interactive whiteboard, you should do some preparatory work and take into account some recommendations.

Universal advice - study preliminary information on the Internet about suitable models. Pay attention to user reviews. Inquire about the presence of representative offices of manufacturers in your city - it will depend on this how much you will have to wait for the solution of the problem in case of a warranty case. All this seems obvious, but many people ignore this stage and are in too much of a hurry with the purchase.

It is highly desirable to buy a complete set at once - a board + projector. This will achieve maximum compatibility, and in some cases the board with a “non-native” projector is completely useless.

In the delivery set must be a set of fasteners and accessories, as well as installation instructions.

Choose a board with a matte finish web. As an option - boards with anti-reflective coating, but matte is still preferable.

Projection Type

Interactive boards also differ in the type of projection - direct or reverse. The straight line assumes the location of the proctor in front of the board, the reverse - in the back. The first option is cheaper and simpler in terms of mounting the board itself - you can just hang it on the wall. The second option is good because the projector's beam does not interfere with the lecturer, and he himself does not cast a shadow. But systems with reverse projection are much more expensive, and the installation of the board requires the services of a highly specialized specialist.

Sensor type

Reading the position of the stylus or the lecturer's finger / fingers is the key to the very interactivity through which such decisions acquire meaning. There are several ways to do this:

1. Electromagnetic. Over the entire area of ​​the web of the board inside its structure there are grids of contact conductors. When the stylus touches the surface, the touch location is determined instantly and accurately. Such boards are relatively inexpensive, solid, generally reliable and durable, can be equipped with anti-vandal coating. On the other hand, such boards are susceptible to EM interference, you can only work with them with a stylus.
2. Resistive. The principle here is the same as that of touch phones that were before the arrival of the era of capacitive screens. The location of the contact is determined by physical pressing. Here it is already possible to use not only the stylus, but also just fingers. The main disadvantage is a small delay between the touch and the response of the system.
3. Infrared. Inside the perimeter there are sensors that determine the place of touch. It has almost all the advantages of resistive technology, plus it is not afraid of damage to the web, or rather, damage does not adversely affect the functionality. Cons - for the most part, the high price, sensitivity to interference.
4. Optic. At the corners are miniature digital cameras at a certain angle to the canvas. Two cameras are enough, but four is better. You can work with the board with any opaque objects, but the positioning accuracy in this solution is worse than in any of the above.

There are other recognition and positioning technologies, such as laser or microdot, but they are much less common and for the most part too expensive.

Data transfer

On this basis, there are active and passive boards. The active ones are powered from the mains and are connected directly to the computer. The second is completely autonomous. Passive interactive whiteboards have significantly less possibilities for using technologies; therefore, there are quite a few of their types - microdot, magnetic and several others. In our rating there are only active boards.

The size

It is an extremely important parameter, on which depends on what audience, as well as on what kind of information material the board will be designed directly in the work.

Actually, the size of the board can be measured by the length of the sides, but more often this parameter is determined by the diagonal, as in TVs or monitors. An additional parameter is the aspect ratio. The larger the diagonal, the more viewers will be able to fully perceive the information on the screen. Approximate calculations are as follows:

1. from 2 to 10 spectators - at least 50 inches;
2. from 10 to 25 spectators - from 60 to 90 inches;
3. from 50 spectators - from 91 to 105 inches.

The data is based on the fact that the size of the room is minimal. The larger the room, the larger the size of the board will be needed for the same number of spectators.

Another thing to keep in mind is that many models contain so-called non-interactive zones at the edges, which reduce the usable area.

Software

Only the technical features of the interactive whiteboard are few in order for it to become a convenient multi-functional tool. It is the functionality that directly depends on the software. This point also needs to be checked with the manufacturer or at the point of sale and compared with the future use of the board. For example, if the board is supposed to be used at school on an ongoing basis, it is necessary that the software contain the most complete or at least standard set of software interactive tools: ruler, compass, protractor, and so on.

Another important aspect with regards to software is the presence of Russian localization. It should be complete, including instructions and updates. An exception can be unless the board will be permanently used in the English class.

Ranking of the best interactive whiteboards

Nomination	a place	Name of product	price
Ranking of the best interactive whiteboards	1	ActivPanel Touch 86 "4K	653 900 ₽
	2	SMART SBX885	200 000 ₽
	3	Smart Board SB480IV4	147 000 ₽
	4	Activboard Touch 88	99 900 ₽

ActivPanel Touch 86 "4K

Rating: 4.9

Let's start the rating with the most expensive, but certainly excellent solution - the flagship of the ActivPanel line of Promethean brand ActivPanel interactive screens. Actually, it is worth clarifying that interactive screens are a kind of "special case" of interactive whiteboards - they are essentially large monitors with touch screens and do not require either a projector or a computer connection, since the necessary software is already included in the firmware.

The dimensions of the panel in the diagonal are 86 inches, and the resolution is very good even for such dimensions - 3840x2160 (4K) with a frequency of 60 Hertz. The proportions of the parties are 16 to 9. The brightness level is 350nit, the contrast is 4 thousand to 1. The LED backlight has a physical resource of about 50 thousand hours before the brightness decreases by half.

The panel is equipped with a durable glass 4mm in thickness and an indicator of hardness of 7 on the Mohs scale. A highly sensitive touch recognition system is integrated into the glass, which allows you to manipulate the image not only with stylus, but also with other objects or just with your fingers. Multitouch is supported with recognition of up to 20 touches simultaneously with an accuracy of 1 mm.

Directly integrated into the panel two speakers with a capacity of 15W each. At the bottom is a control panel with peripheral interface connectors. Input ports: two USB, three HDMI, one Display port. Ethernet, RS-232C and USB ports are used for external control. In operation, the panel consumes up to 350 watts of electricity.

Overall dimensions of the device - 2039x1236x115 mm, net weight - 78 kg.

We emphasize some of the features of this model, which particularly clearly distinguish it against the background of analogs. Above mentioned touch recognition system built into protective glass. We are talking about innovative technology InGlass, which greatly exceeds the infrared in a number of indicators, especially in the most important thing - positioning accuracy and recognition speed with instant display.

The panel is supplied with a specialized computer running Android OS with special software already installed. The system allows you to simultaneously transmit images of the screens of two gadgets. The system is compatible with thousands of useful programs available in the online store.

In general, the possibilities of this model are almost limitless: creating and conducting lessons in an interactive format; connecting students from anywhere in the world; conducting testing and surveys; remote transfer of tasks and tracking their progress; convenient work with wearable gadgets; chatting with students in the chat; work with cloud services and much more.

SMART SBX885

Rating: 4.8

The second interactive whiteboard in our ranking is the flagship of the eighth SMART Board series. This model is already significantly cheaper than the first, but in its class it is really one of the best. Actually, this is no longer a “big monitor”, but really a board with a projector and a gesture recognition system.

The dimensions of the canvas are 188x117 cm (diagonal 87 inches) with a 16:10 aspect ratio. The projector is fixed in the upper part, it translates the image with resolution up to 4000x4000. For gesture recognition, DViT optical technology is used - 4 cameras are installed at the corners of the web. Supports double spelling.

DViT recognition technology allows multiple users to work with the board simultaneously. You can use styluses, pens, any non-sharp objects or your own fingers. Multitouch allows you to modify, rotate, move and scale individual objects or the entire image. The surface of the board has a solid steel base with a durable polyester coating, it can be used in the passive mode using dry erase markers.

To control the device, a special extended panel is used, with the help of which you can easily switch between different devices - laptops, document cameras, optical drives and other multimedia devices.

The system can be easily integrated into the general infrastructure of an institution through a connection to a local network and remote control. The delivery package includes specialized SMART Notebook software with an activation key.

Overall dimensions of the board - 199x130x17 mm, in packaging - 224x144x11 mm, weight in packaging - 41 kg.The delivery kit includes the board itself with a projector, an extended control panel, a mounting kit with screws; set of markers; 5 meter USB cable; instruction. The device is compatible with Windows and Mac OS.

The warranty from the manufacturer for this model is 12 months.

Smart Board SB480IV4

Rating: 4.7

Another smart interactive board in our rating formally has a bit less functionality than the previous solution, but not without some of the qualities that characterize it from a good side.

The SB480IV4 is a complete interactive kit that includes the board itself, a short-focus projector with a remote control, and a set of accessories. The SMART V30 projector broadcasts an image with XGA (1024x768) resolution and 4: 3 aspect ratio; Supports HDTV via HDMI 1.4 input. Also, the projector has a built-in 5-watt speaker.

This solution uses the same optical DViT gesture recognition technology as in the previous model, but not so perfect - only two cameras are used. This allows the board to be used simultaneously by no more than two people.

The size of the canvas boards - 157x117 (77 inches). The image brightness under optimal ambient lighting conditions reaches 3000 lm, the contrast reaches 2900 to 1. The lamp life in standard operation is 6500 hours, in economy mode it is up to 8000. The set of interfaces includes: two Mini D-Sub x 2-pin jacks; one RCA composite input; one 9-pin RS-232 D-Sub interface, one 15-pin D-Sub computer input, standard input and audio output for Mini Jack stereo.

The system is as simple and clear to install and operate, has almost the same functionality as the previous solution in terms of using applications, drawing, writing, and integrating into the general infrastructure of an institution. The surface of the board is the same as the model above - a metal base with a durable polyester coating resistant to abrasion.

The delivery system includes: board, tray, mounting kit with screws, marker, 5-meter USB cable, projector, bracket, remote control with battery, 4.5-meter power cable, a set of decorative plates, bracket, installation and connection instructions .

Activboard Touch 88

Rating: 4.6

Our rating is completed by another representative of the Promethean product lines. Even with a number of reservations, this model cannot be considered the “younger sister” of the above-described top solution Touch 86 "4K, since the principle here is completely different, but on the whole the model is qualitative and functional, and it is incommensurably cheaper.

So, this is a “classic” board, to work with which you will need a projector. The size of the working canvas - 190x119 cm (88 inches) with a 16:10 aspect ratio. The principle of touch recognition is infrared (up to 6 simultaneous touches are supported). Supports dual writing technology. The device software is compatible with Windows and Mac OS.

Features of this model: support for up to six users simultaneously; writing, drawing objects with a choice of line thickness, any manipulations; a set of electronic "versions" of educational devices - a ruler, a protractor, and so on; handwriting recognition; video recording of what is happening on the screen; a set of ready-made templates; support for different student testing systems.

The delivery includes: board, 5-meter USB-cable, a set of wall mounting, bracket for mounting to the rack, two stylus, instructions.

Overall dimensions of the board without packaging - 2006x1292x40 mm, in packaging - 2148x1422x100. Shipping weight - 30 kg.

The production warranty for this model is 12 months.

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Attention! This rating is subjective, is not advertising and does not serve as a guide to the purchase. Before buying, you should consult with a specialist.