IWB Update – Projector Chosen

Hi everyone.  I hope everyone is having a good Easter holiday.

I know it is holidays, but I’m just writing a quick post as I didn’t get time to update people before the term ended on our progress with our IWB setup.

Finally, we have a projector.  Nathan and I reviewed all the paperwork that was piled up on my desk to decide on the BenQ MP721c data projector.  Looking at the criteria from our last projector post, here are the features that got it across the line.

• Lumens: 2200 of them.  That should make for some bright images in our classrooms
• Resolution: XGA.  If we wanted to save more money, SVGA could have sufficed, but it would have been almost impossible to discern detailed images from the back of the room
• Noise: only 28 dB (24 in eco mode).  Most products in this price range are over 30 dB
• Lamp Price: mid-range.  Fairly standard for projector lamps, and often vary from supplier to supplier.  Given this projector was ahead in all other categories, this was not going to rule it out
• Projector Price: the standard price was highly competitive against other brands
• Overall, we had been happy with the BenQ we bought in 2004, so we had our own brand recommendation.

Finally, after making the decision, we had to get a good price from one of the many suppliers out there.  If you’re from another school and ever need to do this, I can’t over-emphasise the need to shop around!  We made enquiries with 5 suppliers, got back quotes from 3, pushed another 2 and searched the net for suppliers to make sure we were getting a good deal.  Even dangling the carrot of wanting 9 projectors wasn’t enough to push some “business and education” suppliers below some Internet prices for 1.  Fortunately, Nathan again got on the phone and got a really great deal from Queensland-based Direct National, who we bought our last BenQ from.  My best advice is to search the net for prices to learn what you should be expecting to pay.

So now, with the first term ended, we have:

• Ordered our 8 new ActivBoards (our Year 1 classes are also getting the new ActivWand to help with reaching the top of the board)
• Ordered our 8 projectors
• Arranged for an installer to visit our classrooms during the holidays to prepare a formal quote
• Requested quotes for sound equipment to support the full multimedia capabilities of the technology

So we’re well on track.  We should have things up and running in Term 2.  Once we know for certain all our expenses in setting up these rooms, then we can look at buying our extra computers!