Thin Client Netbooks

[cookie_monster]

Just wondering if anyone is using anything like the wireless netbooks in the link below or anything similar.

 

Wireless Mobile Thin Clients - AT Labs Inc

[Ric_]

I breifly looked into mobile thin clients but soon found them to be ridiculously expensive. In the end I settled on bog standard XP Pro laptops that auto-login to present the user with an icon that initiates the ICA connection.

 

EDIT: BTW, General Dynamics make some nice looking ones if your still interested... plus, as a bonus, they are called Tadpoles!

Edited January 6, 2010 by Ric_

[cookie_monster]

Yeh I've seen the price of most thin client laptops, the tadpoles look interesting but still probably too expensive.

 

I did come accross this which looks like it might solve my problems with XP Home if it does I can remove steadystate.

 

Download ThinXP 1.0 GPL

[cookie_monster]

Aww ThinXP seemed excellent in almost every way. XP Home booted and then loaded the Citrix client as the shell so no desktop or anything to fiddle with just like a CE client. Then I realised that the laptop function keys wouldn't work so a user couldn't control volume of screen brightness. Damn there's always a stumbling block

[linescanner]

Yeh I've seen the price of most thin client laptops, the tadpoles look interesting but still probably too expensive.

 

I did come accross this which looks like it might solve my problems with XP Home if it does I can remove steadystate.

 

Download ThinXP 1.0 GPL

 

The tadpoles are Sun Ray in a notebook/netbook form. They do 8" and 10" versions. They ARE reassuringly expensive, but very good.

[jamesfed]

HP had a go at something similar - HP 4410t Mobile Thin Client Small & Medium Business

I don't really see this technology lifting off (at least as a single use device) for quite a while (if ever) so long as people can still use cheaper (and lighter) netbooks for the same reason.

All the same I can see the security benefits but does it better than using the greater versions of Windows 7 with Bit Locker?

[cookie_monster]

Now i've got ThinXP working on XP Home I think i'll just be using basic netbooks now.

[lordasb]

got a pile of wyse netbooks in my office, would not have them if someone pay me to take them again if i am honest, screens are poor and break easily, fail to charge, battery packs come out too easily and then the plastic clips get damaged so you cant keep the battery in.

 

i would agree with the others go with something more main stream and load a auto logon and citrix client on the desktop.

 

oh and spares are like rocking horse poo to get hold of, was quotoed over £400+ for a new screen.

[EduTech]

We had one of the Tadpoles for a wee while, and erm i have to say they are amazing! with a few seconds i was connected to my VDI session over the wireless!! no messing around

 

Great Stuff!

[Axel]

We often get asked if we make laptop thin clients - but as most of the posts above say, this is not really a viable thin client market today, mainly down the manufacturing volumes/costs.

 

Realistically the upper price ceiling is the cost of a low end Windows laptop/notebook, and this is too low for (it seems) for anyone to produce a viable competing laptop thin client.

 

Desktop thin clients take benefit from low cost PC monitors/keyboards/mice - a laptop thin client does not, so their cost seems disproportionately high

 

Also, for a desktop TC - the TC can in many cases claim to be equivalent to a PC as far as the user is concerned, whereas a laptop TC can't claim to be equivalent to laptop PC, (step out of wifi range and the laptop TC is a brick).

 

As PC laptops have a cost benefit and useful extra functionality it is going to be hard for a thin client to provide a better solution for most cases for the forseeable future....

 

Of course there will be cases where the extra cost of a laptop TC is justified, but this is a niche in the wider thin client market.....