Best Thin client or Zero Client for use with view 4.5

[Suiname]

I'm looking into investigating a few different thin/zero clients to use as kiosk computers at the university where I work.  We currently have a vdi environment setup using view 4.5, but I'm using a locked down repurposed Windows 7 machine which connects via the view client.  While this is functional, it's certainly not ideal.  We'd like to look into replacing these with Thin or Zero clients to help solve our cost/theft issues with the public machines.  I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with any of these in an environment similar to ours (public kiosks at a university, probably 20 machines total).  So far from the research I've done I'm definitely going to test out the Wyse P20 client due to it's popularity and the free 30 day trial Wyse has.  Any other recommendations?  We don't need to use thin print, but would like to utilize MMR and USB redirection, and educational pricing is a plus.  Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[pcerda]

Hi,

One of my favorites is Samsung NC190.

Wyse P-20 is also a very good Zero Client.

[RaZaKKaZaR]

Have you looked into Pano Logic's Zero Client?  Very small footprint and an attractive MSRP.

http://www.panologic.com/

I saw a presentation at the recent Tampa VMUG, and it looks like very impressive tech.  The device is extremely small, and it should be possible to mount almost anywhere.

I'm sure if you find a reseller that specializes in the Education sector, you can get reasonable pricing.

[Suiname]

I did see a demo of the panologic box at a VDI show, it looks really sleek.  However, on their website it looks to be kind of expensive, 5 of their black boxes (including licensing and the other parts of the bundle) costs $1900.  Is that the going price for zero clients, or is it possible I don't need everything in that starter kit bundle listed here http://store.panologic.com/?

[mittim12]

I can't give any in depth feedback but the testing we performed with the Wyse P20 went very well.   

[Suiname]

I looked up the Samsung NC190, it looks pretty nice.  Did you need any additional software or anything to get it work with your view environment, or does it work out of the box?  Also it looks like it costs about 450-475$ per client, retail.  Is that about right?

[Suiname]

yeah, it definitely seems like the Wyse P20 is a popular one, I am going to try that one for sure.

[pcerda]

Hi,

The Samsung NC190 Zero Client doesn't need any additional software to work.  It works out of the box.

And yes, that is the price of this Zero Client.  It's not really cheap, but is similar to Wyse P20 price.  Both are really good products.

[logiboy123]

How long is a peice of string?

This is a very subjective question. For my money I go with the HP Thin Clients. Effective, fully featured and robust.

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF02d/12454-12454-321959.html?jumpid=in_r2515_us/en/smb/psg/...

[homerjnick]

You can buy Pano's without the bundle, we bought them for $120 a piece and it is $40 a year per Pano for support/broker license.

They are excellent devices which we have deployed on our LAN but be careful as on a WAN they produce a lot of traffic.

[chaz112182]

we did a beta with the pano and the wyse p20 .   both are solid options in my opinion .  we ended up going the p20  route and i am in the process of rolling out 300 of them .   the deciding factor was PCOIP in our case.  pano is strictly RDP. i have been very satisfied with the support teams both at terradici and wyse.  very responsive and very willing to help. if you have any further questions let me know. 

[gunnarb]

Remember with Pano it does not support PCoIP, and I hope you are doing PCoIP in a View environment.  If you like how small the Pano is check out the HP EVGA.  Samsung integrates the chip with a monitor - VERY cool.  You'll see the same thing from LG version soon.  HP EVGA has the Pano small form factor.  Wyse is... well Wyse, their support rocks and the company is outstanding, this is why they win so many sales.

Here is a full list of Zero Clients:

http://www.teradici.com/pcoip/pcoip-products/vmware-view-clients.php

While the Zero Clients are considered equal for the most part, ThinClients are anything but.  ZC are purpose built to connect to a View desktop, as such they are the most secure and will give you the best performance.  ThinClients will be more versitile, as they will allow you to connect to different type of desktops (not just VMWare View).  They also can't perform as well as a ZC, I mean just think about it, in a ZC there is a peice of silicon that is designed to handle PCoIP packets, that's all it does, in a ThinClient you have a generic CPU, probably an Intel that has to compile the PCoIP traffic (or RDP traffic) and send it.  However one major advantage to a ThinClient is when you need something like 8-screens, you just need something more vercitle that allows you to drop in a video card.

It depends on your business needs, say you need prox support, you must go with a ThinClient (currently).  Say you need extremely high security and no information is allowed to exist on the end point, you must go with a Zero Client.  So there are business cases that will determine the way to go, overall though a ZC is the best solution for a View environment.

[zachn]

I hope I'm not beating a dead horse here, but just to toss out an idea - we here at EVGA have the smallest footprint zero-client on the market. The Wyse P20, our PD-01, and numerous others that seems to look oddly similar are, as it turns out, exactly the same. Leadtek made them, we put a sticker on them.

With that in mind, our next gen PD-02 http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=124-IP-PD02-KR&family=PCoIP&sw=11 is a completely original design, however with the exact same hardware as the P20 and previous PD-01, so you're not sacrificing any performance or functionality. The main difference in this case is the price point for the unit. At $299.99 MSRP with TAA available, fiber NIC options rolling out, and EVGA's free 24/7 support, I have to say it's a solid advance into the VDI market.

The way we were able to achieve this price point was by completely cutting out the middle man as well as designing and producing the product ourselves. We were approached by Teradici and VMware themselves to produce a more cost-effective unit, and that's exactly what we did. Feel free to check it out.

We do have free trials available, so if interested, feel free to shoot us a call. 888-881-EVGA.

[tacticsbaby]

Others have said that all Teredici chipset thin clients are equal. I don't know if that is true, but they are much the same as concerns features. With that in mind you may also wish to take a look at the Dell FX100 thin client. We use a few of them along with our Wyse P20 thin clients. Make sure to update it to the latest firmware and it is as nice as the P20. You can also manage the FX100 with the same management software that is used by the P20. Hope this is useful.

[zachn]

Unit	TAA?	TAA MSRP	MSRP	Performance	Warranty	Resolution Support
EVGA PD-02	Yes	$359.99	$299.99	Tera 1100	3 year	Single and Dual 1920x1080
Wyse P20	Yes	$499.99	$499.99	Tera 1100	3 year	Single and Dual 1920x1080
Clearcube 9422	Yes	$499.99	$499.99	Tera 1100	1 year	Single and Dual 1920x1080
Dell FX100	Yes	~$550.99	$500.00	Tera 1100	3 year	Single 1920x1028; Dual 1600x1200

Also, just an update...

Available now are our EVGA Retail for $299.99 MSRP and TAA-certified units for $359.99 MSRP. http://www.evga.com/pcoip

Thanks!

Single DVI at 1920x1200; Dual DVI at 1600x1200

[eeg3]

zachn wrote:

Unit	TAA?	TAA MSRP	MSRP	Performance	Warranty
EVGA PD-02	Yes	$359.99	$299.99	Tera 1100	3 year
Wyse P20	Yes	$499.99	$499.99	Tera 1100	3 year
Clearcube 9422	Yes	$499.99	$499.99	Tera 1100	1 year
Dell FX100	Yes	~$550.99	$500.00	Tera 1100	3 year

Note, ran out of room, but the Dell FX1100 only supports Single DVI at 1920X1200. When using dual, it drops to 1600X1200 due to a lack of memory. All other units are capable of doing the full 1920x1080 on two monitors.

Also, just an update...

Available now are our EVGA Retail for $299.99 MSRP and TAA-certified units for $359.99 MSRP. http://www.evga.com/pcoip

Thanks!

Single DVI at 1920x1200; Dual DVI at 1600x1200

I've used the Dell FX100 with Dual DVI at 1920x1080 with no problems. :smileyconfused:

[zachn]

Well, looks like Dell needs to update their website.

Video Resolution
Single DVI at 1920x1200; Dual DVI at 1600x1200

http://www.dell.com/us/en/enterprise/desktops/dell-fx100/pd.aspx?refid=dell-fx100&cs=555&s=biz

The explanation I was given was this limitation was due to a deficient amount of RAM. I've gone ahead and retracted that unitl I can confirm that much. Thanks for letting me know.

Zach

[tacticsbaby]

Thanks for the price/feature list!

[eeg3]

zachn wrote:

Well, looks like Dell needs to update their website.

Video Resolution
Single DVI at 1920x1200; Dual DVI at 1600x1200

http://www.dell.com/us/en/enterprise/desktops/dell-fx100/pd.aspx?refid=dell-fx100&cs=555&s=biz

The explanation I was given was this limitation was due to a deficient amount of RAM. I've gone ahead and retracted that unitl I can confirm that much. Thanks for letting me know.

Zach

Hrm, odd; I've definitely used dual 1920x1080 with the FX100, though. I've found Dell's support of the FX100 lacking.

Thanks for the list!

[gunnarb]

Zachn,  You are close but not entirely correct.  The Dell FX100 can do dual 24'' monitors, the same as the PD02.  What it can't do is change every pixel on both monitors at the same time, this would be important if you were running videos on both displays at full screen.  What would occur in this scenario is the bottom of the second screen would not update properly, most likely it would stay black.  But this would be difficult to push an FX100 this hard as most videos don't change every pixel frame per frame.  FYI this "issue" (if you can call it that) is due to the FX100 having 64Mb (512MB) of memory, verses the Wyse P20, EVGA PD01-PD02, and many other Zero clients that have 128MB (1Gb) of memory.  Also, it may be worth noting that Dell may be updating the FX100 to 128MB, not sure if they will change the number or not.  Great info on the MSRP, it's always difficult getting this information.