The best digital whiteboard (aka the best interactive whiteboard) is becoming a must-buy for many people working in both business and education. It's basically a large computer touchscreen that you can put on the wall or on a stand, so that all the people in your meeting or classroom can view it easily. By mirroring your laptop, tablet or phone, you can add any content you like to the display, then use your fingers or a stylus to annotate it.
It isn't just about presenting in one direction either: you can get others involved too. So whether you're brainstorming at work, or encouraging schoolchildren to participate in your lessons, the best interactive whiteboard will allow multiple people to access the screen and make their own marks, simultaneously.
In the article below, we've picked the best digital whiteboards available today. These include models aimed at both business and teaching use, cover a range of different screen sizes, and include a cheap alternative at the end for anyone on a tight budget.
Samsung knows a lot about how to make reliable, user-friendly and high-spec technology from the best tablets to the best Samsung phones. So it's no surprise that it's the manufacturer of the best digital whiteboard available today.
The Samsung Flip offers UHD picture quality, lets you write or draw on any background source, and allows up to four people to do so simultaneously. The display is beautifully responsive, and when using a stylus, very close to a real pen on actual paper.
It's quick and easy to erase mistakes, using finger or palm swipe. You can sync your personal devices for real-time content sharing. And any changes made on the Flip display will be mirrored on the connected device, and vice-versa.
In a business environment, the Flip can be used as a calendar, scheduler, note or checklist board. Its internal memory stores your meeting in real time, then lets you share all the notes via email, network, thumb drive or printouts. Plus its reinforced lock system allows you to protect people from opening up confidential content by accident during a meeting.
If you're a teacher wanting your students to create collaborative art, it's great for that too. Brush mode recognises a wide range of thicknesses, and there are even water and oil painting modes to create different styles and textures. You get a full vibrant colour palette to play with, and can mix colours too.
Are you expecting LOTS of people wanting to access your digital whiteboard at once? Then the AG Neovo IFP-6502 is your best bet, as its 20-point touch screen makes it easy for multiple participants to use their fingers or the included styluses to simultaneously draw and annotate on the display.
That's only one way people can interact with this device, of course. The 4K flat panel display also supports 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for fast and seamless connections among keyboards and webcams. And the bundled ScreenShare Pro app enables mirroring and remote control from individual devices using operating systems including Windows, macOS, Android and iOS.
This interactive whiteboard also benefits from dual built-in 16W speakers. And it offers a huge range of connectivity options, including WiFi, Bluetooth, Ethernet, HDMI, VGA, and USB, making suitable for a wide range of uses in the boardroom, the classroom and elsewhere.
Specifically aimed at the education market, the RP6502 supports up to 20 touch points, making it very versatile even when lots of students want to get involved. A built-in Floating Tool empowers teachers to write on top of any app, video, website, document, or image. There's a handwriting recognition feature, and a brush mode for creating art. And it comes with dual pens that each let you write or draw simultaneously with different colors.
More generally, BenQ RP652 has a lovely 4K display, offering up to 350 cd/m of brightness with a 1200:1 contrast ratio to aid visibility even on sunny days with the curtains open. And its the best digital whiteboard on our list for connectivity, too, offering a mammoth nine USB ports, along with three HDMI slots, an Ethernet port, VGA, and audio-in and audio-out.
If you need a digital whiteboard for your classroom or conference room, but don't want a lot of hassle looking at instructions, we recommend the Vibe Interactive Smartboard. It couldn't be easier to set up, especially if you purchase the dedicated stand too (sold separately). Plus, on the whole, it's a very capable device.
The 10-point touch screen allows multiple people to interact with the screen simultaneously via touch or stylus, and the 8ms response time makes writing and drawing feel very natural. You can share the Vibe Canvas via email, third party apps like Slack and Teams, or by scanning a QR code to send to your phone. And up to four users can share their screen wirelessly at once.
If you're presenting to a huge room, such as an auditorium or large lecture theater, you'll probably want a bigger model than those we've covered so far. In which case, we'd recommend the largest version of the Samsung Flip (number one on our list), which has a screen diameter of 85 inches.
At this larger size, this model offers almost all of the high specs and clever tech of its 55 inch cousin, plus unlike the former it also has a DP (DisplayPort). And as you'd expect, it's also significantly more expensive.
If you want a digital whiteboard that's small, light and easy to carry around, we recommend the DTEN.ME. This lightweight 27-inch multi-touch HD display has been made with a wide range of uses in mind, including making Zoom calls and as a second monitor, plus it works well as an interactive whiteboard too; as long as your audience is nice and close, of course.
At only half an inch thick, it couldn't be more portable. Its responsive, multi-touch screen is great for annotating content in real time. And while you're limited for ports (just Ethernet and HDMI), the price is reassuring low compared to most of the whiteboards on this list.
Plus, if you do a lot of videoconferencing , the DTEN ME is packed with enterprise grade features, including three intelligent cameras to optimize your room view, eight-array microphones for clear audio and integrated stereo speakers.
Can't come near to affording the digital whiteboards we've mentioned thus far? Then here's a very cheap and inventive solution. The IPEVO CSW2-02IP IW2 doesn't come with an interactive screen, but instead allows you to turn any flat surface into one, for the purpose of teaching or presentations. You will, however, need to supply a laptop and a projector separately.
The system is made up of three devices: an interactive pen, the sensor cam, and the wireless receiver. The Sensor Cam reads infrared signals emitted by the pen and sends that information wirelessly to the receiver, which your plug into your laptop's USB port. (Because it uses infrared signals, there's no need to connect anything to Wi-Fi.)
The IW2 comes with included software of its own, and it's also compatible with other applications, which you can control just as if you were on your laptop. It's very light and portable and works with a wide variety of projectors, including short-throw and ultra short-throw projectors.
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