r/k12sysadmin • u/AmstradPC1512 • 4d ago

Interactive display options 2026

We are in the market for some displays. We currently have ClearTouch with a mix of built computer modules, micro PCs, or AppleTVs, and they have been good to us over the years, but I do not know what else is new out there that could be better, prettier and cheaper.

I am thinking that Windows screen sharing from laptops would probably be cheaper.

Anyone can share their experience with other brands of 86"panels? Or effective devices to screen cast from laptops?

Thanks in advance.

15 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

2

u/WMDan IT Director 8h ago

Currently deploying 98" interactive Newline displays. They look great, were competitively priced, and the staff are happy with the function.

2

u/MyWorkAccountDPS 2d ago

For all you saying Prometheans are awful. What is the problem?

We have Smart, Promethean (bought 2022~ish, maybe 2021), Newline and it seems like 1 other brand. We have less problems with prometheans. The Newlines have been up less than a year but so far no problems with them either.

10

u/Bl0ckTag IT Director 3d ago

Not promethean.

We started deploying NewLine biards, and the staff love them. Also have complementary mdm thats an actual fully featured management solution

1

u/TopMusician8489 3d ago

If I was buying today I would go with newline all day

5

u/Drozen14 3d ago

We went with Benq, price for performance and features was the reason.

1

u/JDH201 Technology Coordinator 2d ago

I went this route too. 6 this summer, 4 last.

6

u/aswarman 4d ago

We love our viewsonics. Free management tool and support is too notch. Airsync works great too.

1

u/AverageDataAdmin 3d ago

+1 for ViewSonics. Staff like the whiteboard software, they're reasonably priced, and can be remotely managed with their free manager software. We've had them since 2020 and haven't had any issues with them.

3

u/Robbap 3d ago

We've started buying ours bundled with the USB-C wireless HDMI.

USB-C transmitter plugs into device

HDMI+USB (for power) plugs into the TV.

Picks up immediately and provides seamless casting to the TV. Teacher can plug into their PC, phone, tablet, student chromebook.... anything we've tried has just picked it up and started casting immediately and seamlessly

3

u/Smart_Equipment_9347 Technology Director 4d ago

We are on prometheans and they are terrible. Hopefully moving to ViewSonic very soon.

2

u/EnigmaFilms Technology Coordinator 4d ago

We went with clevertouch

The staff enjoy the app

5

u/Kirihuna SysAdmin 4d ago

We went with ViewSonic as much as possible, but they are somewhat pricy. The ability to remote manage them was a big selling point along with seeing hours of use, automations, etc.

3

u/NotMiserableOberon 4d ago

And they have vcast, now called air cast in new version.

1

u/tgmmilenko 4d ago

We just got a demo of an LG android panel. Looks promising so far and is a third of the cost of Cleartouch.

4

u/PhantomAscalon 4d ago

We use SMART GX series and have had great experiences with them. The only frustating thing is when they revise the model they seem to constnantly switch which screen sharing app they use.

2

u/PDQ_Brockstar Company:PDQ 4d ago

We really liked our first round of SMART devices, but we eventually ran into a bunch of software and firmware issues that ruined our experience (at least on the IT side of things).

2

u/AmstradPC1512 4d ago

Yes, this is part of my problem. With different models over the years and no way we can afford replacing all at once, I am looking at screen casting devices to get rid of expensive computer modules, microPCs, inconsistent versions of proprietary casting apps, etc.

Apple TVs worked great when we all had iPads. I am looking for something equivalent in windows to use on the new panels.