In 2012 Google launched Chromebook’s counterpart Chromebox, a ‘desktop’ like computer. In my opinion, at $329,- it’s still way too expensive. Traditional thin clients from Dell Wyse and HP also are still priced too high. In my opinion one of the problems with thin client acceptance until now has been price.
You want thin features but also a ‘thin price’. After years of ‘promise’, however, we are now seeing a speedup in alternative clients. Desktop computer sales are down dramatically in favor of tablets, mobile phones and… thin clients.
In 2012 we also saw the appearance of Ncomputing N series thin clients for Citrix. The basic model N400 runs for about 120 euros (available in the US for less than $ 139,-) Now that’s a good price! The N400 runs on a Citrix HDX optimized SoC.
We were one of the first to test it here in The Netherlands and were very impressed. It actually outperforms a Wyse T10. The more powerful N500 delivers higher performance by offloading most common media types and promises flash offloading to the client in the near future. These devices run Youtube HTML5 and Adobe Flash stuff very well and very smooth. Full screen is still not perfect, but for almost all business use, a window size of approximately 500 pixels will be all you need. Sound quality is excellent.
One thing we don’t like however is the boot-up time. Here competitor Wyse wins big time. But that doesn’t have to be a problem, you can just leave the device on in standby mode and never switch it off. The N series come with included Vspace browser management software that does a good job managing the devices.
So at this price point I think more and more businesses are starting to warm up to the notion of thin clients. I don’t mean to promote Ncomputing here; they’re simple the best deal at the moment in price / performance. At iTRACTION we have been dealing with thin clients since the 90′s and have never seen anything perform like this at such a low price. I love the concept of thin. I agree that in a few scenario’s you’ll still need a Windows Embedded thin client but I sure as #@* don’t like them.
I think the discussion is broader than traditional thin clients. Google’s Chromebox adds a browser and boots incredibly fast. But as mentioned earlier it’s still too expensive. Now what if they sold it for $99? Would that be a game changer for our business? And where would it start: at home or in the office? Of course Chromebox has Chrome as a browser built-in. Now imagine a built-in Citrix Receiver, lean, mean and ready to go. Custom built for the Chromebox, just like other thin clients.
More and more companies are looking into this market, driven by the huge success of tablets, which one could see as a kind of thin client when compared to a fat old desktop computer. Mobile devices and BYOD or BYO-anything are further stimulating the interest in this market. Rest assured: this is certainly not a passing hype that will go away.
Stay tuned for the 2nd part of this article: ‘The not so shiny future of pc’s and laptops’, next month.
I really appreciate your thoughts and opinions. Be sure to share your Insights, perspectives, real life experiences on thin clients in general and Google Chromebox and Ncomputing in particular in the comments below!
