ActivPanel suggestions

[DDR5]

Hi, we need to replace a couple of very old Promethean 78" ActivBoards - to be honest they still work great - the only negative being maintaining the projectors. The school replaced the majority (around 20 classrooms) a few years ago with Promethean ActivPanels v6's with the OPS add-on, and we've had a lot of issues with them. Over the years we have had No Signal issues, issues with the OPS, interactivity etc and it's made us think twice about just going with Promethean as default.

 

We could go down the LX route, and just use as a glorified second monitor, but ideally we'd like the AP9 as it has OS built in so teaching staff can use the built in Annotation tools etc. Staff mainly just use ActivInspire on their PC's, but some have started using Google Slides now.

 

Having only used Promethean in all the schools I've supported in the past, would anyone have any other recommendations that I can look into?

 

Many thanks.

[Patrick]

We've been using Viewsonic screens over the last few years and had a good experience with them. Small primaries and they have laptops connected to them. Had to update firmware on a couple of them to solve a freezing issue, but other than that they've been ok so far.

[Millgate_Jimbo]

Heya, Iiyama, Viewsonic, Promethean and BenQ are the brands I tend to sort for clients. Depends really on the full capabilities you are wanting from them. I can set up some calls with the vendors for some demo's or potential trial units if you want to reach out to me via PM or my details below.

[gszech]

We previously utilized BenQ and Iiyama displays, we recently transitioned to Prowise Touch Screens, which have significantly exceeded our expectations.The Prowise TVs offer a lot of features: 100W USB-C port with display support located at the back of the TV (our last BENQ model had this at the front which was useless), integrated Wi-Fi, Apple, Chromecast and Miracast screen casting, as well as a built-in subwoofer. The TV feels faster, offers a lot of apps (we don't use them) and frequent system updates.

They also come with free web based management where you can lock and control all the TVs options or update the TVs.

 

The cost is similar to other brands, the only downside is expensive pallet delivery.

[BenQ_Chris]

Hi @DDR5, I can only speak for BenQ boards, but the latest range (RP04) has a host of features - latest generation germ resistant tech, tougher glass (9H), USB-C upgrades, 2 x 20w speakers and 16w subwoofer, environmental sensors - temperature, humidity, CO2, PM2.5, PM10, TVOC - all of which feedback in to DMS (FOC cloud based device management system). It also supports SSO (Google / Azure AD) accounts and allows for NFC card sign in via AMS. The latest RP04 series also features Google EDLA, with complete access to Play Store; by using AMS you can protect the screens and prevent unauthorised access to the screen, apps and even certain apps. You also get the very latest EZWrite 6 Whiteboard software built in (also available on Windows, Mac & iPad) capable of opening .iwb & .notebook files. As well as a powerful casting solution in InstaShare 2. It also comes with 5 year de/re-install warranty as standard (upon registration). If you'd like to know more of have any further questions please let me know.

[ToyHeartsFan]

"Staff mainly just use ActivInspire on their PC's"

 

If you switch to a different solution how loud are the teachers going to shout when you tell them they are no longer licenced to use Activinspire and you have uninstalled it?

 

RE the OPS add on, IMO smart screens are getting too clever for their own good at least with the Promethean OPS they had an mdm to manage them. Otherwise screens with built in browsers that bypass the likes of smoothwall monitor and dont even require user authentication are potentially a big safeguarding issue in schools.

 

It was the old style boards that caused more problems for me, they dropped support for them, there were known issues which caused them to crash and they didn't officially support W10 although not long after the warranty expired on one of the new panels we had the lens diffusers started falling off the backlight leds.