Chip pc

[Oops_my_bad]

Anyone using these? Opinions?

Insight UK - Search: Computers > Thin Clients > "chip pc jack"

[cookie_monster]

Well they look fantastic i wonder what the drawbacks are, a room of them would be great much less for the kids to damage.

[FN-GM]

I remember a post a while back about these, they seem expensive compared to how much you pay for HP Thin Clients.

[localzuk]

They are a superb piece of kit, and the management software for them is even better. Those prices are slightly higher than those I was offered when I looked into them last year. Also, HP thin clients aren't that much cheaper compared to these, but are a lot larger.

One advantage of them is that you can simply mount them in your trunking and have them powered by PoE. They only draw 5W.

[kesomir]

HP thin clients are much cheaper than that. Don't forget that the HP's come up on a buy 2 get one free offer or similar every so often.

I think my last batch worked out at ~£130/140 per TC inc vat.

Standard price is 169 + VAT without offers.

And they are better spec than the socket jobs.

+ They can be mounted on the back of the TFTs.

The HPs draw about 20W though...

[Oops_my_bad]

One advantage of them is that you can simply mount them in your trunking and have them powered by PoE. They only draw 5W.

I was wondering about this - none of the accessories seem to allow for it to be mounted within normal trunking could this be done with the metal plate they provide over a normal trunking backbox?

they are a fair bit cheaper under catalist

[localzuk]

HP thin clients are much cheaper than that. Don't forget that the HP's come up on a buy 2 get one free offer or similar every so often.

I think my last batch worked out at ~£130/140 per TC inc vat.

Standard price is 169 + VAT without offers.

And they are better spec than the socket jobs.

+ They can be mounted on the back of the TFTs.

The HPs draw about 20W though...

They aren't better specced. The HP t5135 has a Via Eden x86 processor running at 400Mhz. The Chip PC uses a 333Mhz ARM processor, which is a lot more powerful.

I was wondering about this - none of the accessories seem to allow for it to be mounted within normal trunking could this be done with the metal plate they provide over a normal trunking backbox?

they are a fair bit cheaper under catalist

You'd just use a deep back box in your trunking and use the metal mouting plate with it.

[kesomir]

They aren't better specced. The HP t5135 has a Via Eden x86 processor running at 400Mhz. The Chip PC uses a 333Mhz ARM processor, which is a lot more powerful.

I was referring to the t5735 which have an AMD Geocode NX 1500 processor which is Athlon based and runs at 1GHz. They also ship with 4 times the ram.

I don't have benchmark data on these two cpus however.

[localzuk]

I was referring to the t5735 which have an AMD Geocode NX 1500 processor which is Athlon based and runs at 1GHz. They also ship with 4 times the ram.

I don't have benchmark data on these two cpus however.

I which case, it costs the same as a JackPC, and the power supply uses 50W according to HP. Plus, a thin client will very very rarely require that much memory! Also, it isn't a Geocode NX, it is a AMD Sempron 2100+.

Anyway, the point I'm making is that ARM processors are significantly more powerful than x86 processors.

[nut-ed]

I think Chippc only support Windows CE, whereas HP support Linux, I would imagine this has a significant impact on performance....

..and most manufacterers, (HP, Wyse, Axel etc) supply management software for free - When I last considered Chippc they charged a lot for their management software.

..and what happens when you want to move a thin-client or one fails when they are embedded in the wall, you gotta call out an electrician....

Seems a really good, unique idea, but not sure how practical in reality....

[FN-GM]

one fails when they are embedded in the wall, you gotta call out an electrician....

I thought they use POE

[kesomir]

apologies - its my 5725 that has the geocode. I have them flashed with the debian 4 build so it displays 5735 on the screens when booting.

They appears to be going for around the 230 mark without offers currently which is a heck of a lot more than I paid for mine in the 3 for 2. I got TC + 19" TFT for roughly £250 a set.

It's still cheaper than the jack ones - albeit not by much and I wouldn't purchase them at that price.

I had a good hunt for benchmarks and couldn't find anything to compare the speed of the machines.

Incidentally, it appears AMD has sold off the Alchemy processors to Raza to go all x86 with their product line.

It's a heck of a shame we never went Risc in desktop machines 10-20 years ago, although I think the move to web delivered applications makes it more possible for such hardware change in the future. The ARM PRoc are much more energy efficient.

[localzuk]

I think Chippc only support Windows CE, whereas HP support Linux, I would imagine this has a significant impact on performance....

That is true, i don't know about the performance hit though.

..and most manufacterers, (HP, Wyse, Axel etc) supply management software for free - When I last considered Chippc they charged a lot for their management software.

There management software was superb though, very easy to manage and use in general.

..and what happens when you want to move a thin-client or one fails when they are embedded in the wall, you gotta call out an electrician....

You don't need an electrician. They have a release button inside them which you activate with a tool that comes with them. Then you just unclip the krone clip and that's it. They run on PoE so there is not a threat to health.

It's a heck of a shame we never went Risc in desktop machines 10-20 years ago, although I think the move to web delivered applications makes it more possible for such hardware change in the future. The ARM PRoc are much more energy efficient.

Agree 100%.

[cookie_monster]

Windows CE is really pretty light so i don't think you'll see a performance issue on hardware of that spec.

[plexer]

They always have looked cool, what other fan less thin clients are there?

Ben