It
is projector selection time for US (and many other countries) K-12
schools looking for projectors for the 2015-2016 school year. In
addition, many universities, colleges and medical schools are also on
the hunt for the best performance and best value projectors as well as
projectors with special capabilities.
Our Education Projector Report this year looks at 18 new projectors that cover a wide spectrum of what is available, from very inexpensive value oriented projectors, to those with advanced networking, to high power projectors capable of handling large university classrooms, and small auditoriums. It includes a number of interactive projectors all of which are ultra short throw projectors that typically mount above the screen surface – a white board.
Editor’s Note: Projectors continue to improve but many of the technologies are stable, as a result, projector manufacturers no longer replace most models every year. Those projectors from last year’s report that received awards, and that still meet our requirements of being current models at least until the fall of 2015, are more integrated into this report than we have done previously.
We consider this important improvement to the report, since some of those projectors from last year are still great choices and some of the top sellers to schools. Last year’s winners won’t be competing for this year’s awards, but you should consider them excellent projectors comparable to this year’s winners and equally worthy of consideration. -art
We wish to thank Epson America for sponsoring this year’s Best Classroom Projectors report.
Our goal is to demonstrate a wide range of capabilities, to help decision makers understand the options, and choose wisely. Those decision makers include IT and AV managers, Tech coordinators, teachers/professors, as well as people on the business side, such as buyers. There are at least 500 business and education projectors currently available in the US. Figure that at the very least, 1/3 of those would have to be considered suitable for some aspect of the Education market. Thus, no publication is capable of taking a close look – that is, review – all of those that are possible fits. The greatest analysis likely comes from the few state consortiums such as the IEC – the Iowa Education Consortium who’s efforts allow school districts from multiple states to buy through their consortium. Our goal is different, than categorizing hundreds of projectors and recommending many dozens, and working out pricing. We’re trying to help you understand what goo projectors that meet your needs might look like. Our winners reflect the most capable – for different reasons. Some will be ideal for your needs, others won’t be a good fit.
Click Image to Enlarge
Once again, this year’s report includes a number of high brightness projectors suitable for those huge university classrooms as well as K-12 auditoriums and multi-purpose rooms. We’ve got a number of traditional small fixed install/portable projectors that work well in smaller classrooms.
If you are in need of a specialty portable projector, that is especially lightweight or tiny, and/or can run on batteries, I recommend you check out last year’s report.
Our Education Projector Report this year looks at 18 new projectors that cover a wide spectrum of what is available, from very inexpensive value oriented projectors, to those with advanced networking, to high power projectors capable of handling large university classrooms, and small auditoriums. It includes a number of interactive projectors all of which are ultra short throw projectors that typically mount above the screen surface – a white board.
Editor’s Note: Projectors continue to improve but many of the technologies are stable, as a result, projector manufacturers no longer replace most models every year. Those projectors from last year’s report that received awards, and that still meet our requirements of being current models at least until the fall of 2015, are more integrated into this report than we have done previously.
We consider this important improvement to the report, since some of those projectors from last year are still great choices and some of the top sellers to schools. Last year’s winners won’t be competing for this year’s awards, but you should consider them excellent projectors comparable to this year’s winners and equally worthy of consideration. -art
We wish to thank Epson America for sponsoring this year’s Best Classroom Projectors report.
Our goal is to demonstrate a wide range of capabilities, to help decision makers understand the options, and choose wisely. Those decision makers include IT and AV managers, Tech coordinators, teachers/professors, as well as people on the business side, such as buyers. There are at least 500 business and education projectors currently available in the US. Figure that at the very least, 1/3 of those would have to be considered suitable for some aspect of the Education market. Thus, no publication is capable of taking a close look – that is, review – all of those that are possible fits. The greatest analysis likely comes from the few state consortiums such as the IEC – the Iowa Education Consortium who’s efforts allow school districts from multiple states to buy through their consortium. Our goal is different, than categorizing hundreds of projectors and recommending many dozens, and working out pricing. We’re trying to help you understand what goo projectors that meet your needs might look like. Our winners reflect the most capable – for different reasons. Some will be ideal for your needs, others won’t be a good fit.
- What’s in This Year’s Report
- Reviews Section – With links to each reviewed projector in the report
- About our Annual Best In Classroom Awards
- Defining Expectations (repeated from previous years – with some updates)
- District Level/State Level IT/AV/Tech Coordinator
- School Level IT/AV/ Tech Coordinator
- Teachers
- Buyers: School, District, State, Consortium
- Understanding the physical classroom environment for projector selection
- Special Features – Are these capabilities you need?
- Awards
While
the report covers less than a dozen and a half projectors directly,
remember that many projectors covered, are part of families of
projectors with only minor variations. We may have reviewed an WXGA
resolution projector, but that manufacturer likely has an XGA and SVGA
version, and perhaps even a WUXGA version. They also might offer
slightly different versions with and without networking, and in some
cases even a brighter, and less bright version otherwise the same. One
projector may have as many as 11 siblings, but most non interactive
projectors have families of 4 to 8 to select from. As a result figure
that these projectors represent more like 75 different models.
In other words, a school can find the the projector with the right feature set, then choose the preferred resolution or level of networking 0r…
Last year we had not reviewed enough fully interactive projectors to group them together for awards, so we covered a wider group – as ultra short throw projectors some of which were interactive.
This year, though, we got to review four interactive projectors. In fairness, two were similar Epson models – one really geared more for business – but that one has been included because it is essentially unique as a collaboration oriented projector – allowing teams to work cross campus, or cross-continent… I see that as a university and research type solution.
New for this year is a discussion about the trade-offs and value propositions of lamp based projectors vs those with long life digital light sources (led, laser, hybrids).
All of the projectors covered here are available by June 1st, per their manufacturers, and none are expected to be discontinued before September 30th 2015. So, they should all be available with time to procure them for the upcoming school year.
In other words, a school can find the the projector with the right feature set, then choose the preferred resolution or level of networking 0r…
Last year we had not reviewed enough fully interactive projectors to group them together for awards, so we covered a wider group – as ultra short throw projectors some of which were interactive.
This year, though, we got to review four interactive projectors. In fairness, two were similar Epson models – one really geared more for business – but that one has been included because it is essentially unique as a collaboration oriented projector – allowing teams to work cross campus, or cross-continent… I see that as a university and research type solution.
New for this year is a discussion about the trade-offs and value propositions of lamp based projectors vs those with long life digital light sources (led, laser, hybrids).
All of the projectors covered here are available by June 1st, per their manufacturers, and none are expected to be discontinued before September 30th 2015. So, they should all be available with time to procure them for the upcoming school year.
Click Image to EnlargeOnce again, this year’s report includes a number of high brightness projectors suitable for those huge university classrooms as well as K-12 auditoriums and multi-purpose rooms. We’ve got a number of traditional small fixed install/portable projectors that work well in smaller classrooms.
If you are in need of a specialty portable projector, that is especially lightweight or tiny, and/or can run on batteries, I recommend you check out last year’s report.
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