Interactive whiteboards come in different seizes and types - only the large ones are advisible for a class room. They sell for about £ 1000 to £ 3000.
A relatively strong beamer of 1500 lumens is needed in a non-darkened room to demonstrate with the same effect as the normal 250 watt OH-projector. They cost on average £ 2000 and a replacement lamp after 1000 to 2000 burning hours, costs £ 500.
The technology is changing fast.

Computer projectors or beamers appear to be ideal: large projections from videos or computer are made possible for PowerPoint presentations, films, animations and even for stationary images. Yet a digital projector is a new kid on the block, not yet installed in many classrooms. Costs including the supporting sound equipment, computer and video, do not seem to be the greatest obstacle. In its complexity this ‘information and communication technology’ - ICT can prove to be fragile and sometimes unreliable and technically confusing.

Training is needed. For regular daily use in lessons, a teacher’s repertoire of strategies will need to change. To make the combined equipment work smoothly requires high skills. All things considered, this technology is certainly worth pursuing. Ultimately, it will result in ‘brain friendly teaching’. When a teacher is able  to  do  so  smoothly in his or

her daily lessons, it will add a lot more than just a high-tech gadget to teaching. Since the late 1990s, teachers in the UK have been trained more systematically in use the ICT compared to most of Europe. In the UK interactive whiteboards are now installed in class rooms in many schools.

Schools in most other European countries often have a specially equipped studio classroom available with a computer projector and also the interactve whiteboard. Reserving a studio for a class is bound by the same restrictions which apply to the use of a mobile installation in your own classroom. It is only worth it when the presentation is well prepared. The teaching staff has to be specially trained. Didactically and practically speaking, computer projectors are therefore fundamentally different from overhead projectors.

In order to regularly provide each lesson of the day with strong visual data, the overhead projector is the appropriate teaching tool to do this. In the new specialist classrooms for geography, history or sciences furnished with modern technology including the interactive whiteboard, an overhead projector is also installed. Teachers working in such a learning environment also use transparencies as supplementary teaching tools - to quickly capture attention and illustrate a concept.