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Some of the Newer Thin Clients are Dirt Cheap General-Purpose Computers



Some of the newer Thin Clients are dirt cheap General-Purpose Computing Systems

12-15-2021



When thin clients first started to gain popularity in the corporate world in the late 1990's I was shocked. They seemed like nothing more than the latest corporate effort to block employees from buying online at work. My opinion of thin clients was unchanged until recently, when my increasing frustration over not finding anything to fill the gap between Raspberry Pi's and older PCs finally compelled me to look at thin clients again. I was amazed and awed by what I observed.



I discovered that some of these newer models, developed in the last five years, are more than the modern equivalents to dumb X terminals of the 1990s. These slim clients can be used as fully-fledged computers. They are also extremely economical and low-power. Many are also more easily upgraded than older laptops that had flash storage and RAM soldered to motherboards. Prices for used laptops range from a few dollars up to a few hundreds. Businesses are always selling their old clients, and savvy buyers have a variety of choices. Recently, I found more than 4000 available on Ebay. Contrary to Raspberry Pi's, many thin clients are able to run x86 software. They can run Linux and can be upgraded at lower costs than Raspberry Pi's. They also have cases that aren't expensive.



Businesses buy thin clients because they're designed to last. They don't break down or become obsolete within a few short years, forcing unsophisticated customers to purchase new ones. Thin clients last twice as long as PC's.



Many thin clients can be upgraded and adpated to other functions that are more appropriate for knowledgeable consumers who are on a tight budget. In addition to upgrading SSD's and RAM, some thin clients have internal USB ports that allow booting from flash drives or adding more storage or even wireless keyboards (perfect for an HTPC). Some of them can even support 2.5" hard drives. WiFi cards can be upgraded or added to. Some thin clients can power multiple high-resolution displays. The HP T620 Plus also has a slot for an ultra-compact PCIe multi-port Ethernet video card or NIC!



Thin clients are especially useful for applications that do not require the use of a large amount of CPU power. welcome to my blog In these cases the cost of electricity, hardware, and maintenance are significant factors to take into consideration. This is why they can be ideal for re-purposed as routers, firewalls, and web servers. Other applications for tinkerers and consumers include retro gaming computers, basic HTPC's, dedicated Netflix machines, Internet radio appliances, WiFi extenders, mesh network nodes, WiFi access points ZeroNet nodes, NAS's, email servers, music players, Zoom appliances (with added USB microphone and webcam), XMPP servers, and even perhaps minecraft servers.



A website that provided information on different models of thin client was very useful when I was researching them. I was able to see what I was actually purchasing and didn't have to just buy any thin client and hope for a great outcome. Parkytowers.me.uk has a large list of specifications for thin clients, as well as links to detailed information about each model.



With the help of parkytowers, I ordered an HP T620 (not the HP T620 Plus) from Ebay for $26.35 US including shipping and taxes but without an electrical supply or stand. HP thin clients utilize the same power supplies as HP laptops. Since I own an HP laptop that has a higher than 65-watt power supply, I am able to use it. The T620 comes with 2 or 4 GB of RAM, and an SSD with 16 GB capacity. The RAM can be upgraded by 16 GB and the SSD can be extended to 128 GB. It also comes with two internal USB 2.0 ports to boot from a USB flash drive or perhaps connecting a 2.5" USB hard drive to the inside of the case. The T620 also features four external USB 2.0 ports and 2 external USB 3.0 ports. Its 64-bit quad-core AMD G-Series GX-415GA CPU (some models include a dual-core AMD GX-217GA) scores around 28% higher on the single-core Passmark benchmark test, and slightly less in the multi-core test than the CPU in my 12-year-old Dell E6500 laptop I use every day.



My T620 arrived in the mail and I was immediately impressed. It's heavy due to its metal case and thick plastic which allows for air flow. The T620 is fan-less, so it is absolutely quiet while in use, which is perfect for an HTPC. Since the cover is able to be removed without tools, it reminded me of an Dell desktop computer designed for business. Inside the T620, it was free of dust. It looked new on the outside as well as the inside. It was almost like purchasing an entirely new computer for $26.35. I immediately removed the 16 GB SSD and started the T620 from an external USB flash drive with a command-line-only Debian distribution. This would make a great web server or NAS. I was amazed by how low the power consumption was during boot. It was only 5-6 Watts during idle.



I will be testing the T620 over the next few weeks or months and writing about the results.



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