Chip PC

[murreyaw]

Has anyone out there had much luck with Chip PC and their XCalibur product? I have a couple of the Jack PC's from them and am thinking about going from 2 to 50 or of them. Wanted to see if anyone out there has a mass deployment of them, and if they liked them and their management product.

[sgrinker]

We started out with them being in the lead during our Thin Client testing phase. However, the Wyse V10L came out before we made our final decision. Wyse by far out performed the devices, and they were much more stable and easy to manage. The main interest was in the Chip PC form factor, especially the Jack PC. However, the combination of Windows CE, poor video performance, multi-monitor issues, and some issues with the XCalibur policies, they lost the race here.

There is obviously a learning curve with XCalibur policies, but I did get a comfort level with them pretty quickly. If you are used to GPO, it's not that much of a change. We just had some issues with how and when the policies would update on the device, etc. That along with we decided to go with a "thinner" OS than Windows CE. It didn't help that our rep kept promising to get back to us in "30 minutes", and then would never return our call. We didn't get a good sense of customer support before even making the purchase.

If you aren't having any issues with the units you currently have and find the managment of the devices meet your needs, then I'd say to expand your pilot/testing group slightly first. Get a good sense of how maintaining mulitple devices will go over. Depending on what other Thin Clients makes and models you've tested, you may want to compare them against a few others before making the purchase. As I said, we were pretty close to pulling the trigger, and then the Wyse V10L released a few weeks prior to our deadline. To wrap it all up though, they aren't a bad choice necessarily. They just didn't fit our needs here.

Thanks

Steve

[davlloyd · Accepted solution]

Found them to slow and the constraints of utilising a CE based clients are an issue with RDP based services was to high. In saying that they are a neat peice of kit and of all the thin clients we have had through they get the most comments.

[murreyaw]

Which TC device would you suggest for use in a moderate warehouse environment?

[jsehlms]

Very well put. We found the jackPC to be very interesting. The form factor sold us so we purchased 10 to do a small training room. As sgrinker stated if you're familiar with Windows GPOs, managing the jackPCs is quite easy. We've had decent luck with them so far, but right now we're looking to do desktop replacements, and unfortunately it doesn't appear the jackPCs will fit the bill. They are a tad slower in video response compared to a few others we're testing side-by-side. I happen to have a Wyse V10L sitting next to me that looks like our desktop replacement.

I've had pretty good luck when dealing with ChipPC regarding issues or questions. Frank Bernard (TX) has been wonderful to work with. As of right now they're still having issues with RDP connecting to the console port (unless you want to have a user script the connection). As for a company, the products are good and the service has been great. But compared to other TCs on the market, well they're close to the top, but this V10L is absolutly amazing in comparison.

If the jackPCs work well for you then by all means continue on as they're a great product, plus provide PoE capabilities.

Jason