Thursday, May 23, 2013

Smartboard verses do-it yourself??

This topic was brought out by one of our business teachers who wants to ditch her Smartboard and go with an Apple-TV type setup, but she did not know if that was possible so I looked into it.  It you go with the Smartboard option, bought straight from the factory with some extra stuff, the bill came out to $5099.  I shopped for all the stuff I would need to replicate the Smartboard experience, and that bill came out to $3010.  A savings of over $2000. Below is the list of things I compared.  Discuss amongst yourselves! 

SMARTBOARD OPTION.  Estimate total $5099
  • Smartboard: 77", 4:3 display ratio or 83", 16:10 ratio--more expensive.
  • Smartboard: Single-touch or Multi-touch (add $600 more).
  • Smart remote clickers: 32 clickers-$2,520, 24-clickers ($1,985).
  • Projector
  • Speakers: $289
  • Installation: $500
DO IT YOURSELF OPTION.  Estimate total $3,010 with 1 Ipad, ($2,400 with out Ipad)
  • 65" inch Toshiba HDTV (Tiger Direct): $1,000
  • Apple TV Version 3: $100
  • MacBook Pro (made after Mid-2011) $1,200.  With Apple TV Version 3 and a post 2011 MacBook Pro with Mountain Lion OS, you can stream your desktop to the TV via Apple TV.  Any earlier version of Apple TV or older model MacBook, Air Play will not work.
  • Air Parrot app: $10.  Allows you to stream your Mac desktop to Apple TV.  Only buy if you have an older MacBook that doesn't support Air Play.  
  • Ipad: $600
  • Doceri desktop app: $30. Turns your MacBook/Ipad into am interactive whiteboard.
  • TV Bracket Mount (Tiger Direct): $70.
  • Socrative student response app: 


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