Posted by: Anonymous Coward
on November 19, 2006 04:38 PM
Just checked out Dell's Web site. With the 19" monitor, the price goes up from $329 to $559. So. for a complete desktop station, it actually does cost more than a thin client, as we would expect.
But even though the purchase price is somewhat lower, the reasons that organizations run thin clients are not so much the initial purchase price (though that is one factor, sure), but rather the following:
1.) Security. All your user data is stored in one place...backed up, of course, if you're smart.<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-)
2.) Ease of upgrading software for multiple stations. With thin-client environments, you don't have to upgrade, say, OpenOffice.org on 40 individual stations. You just do it once, and every station sees the new version automagically.
3.) Longer life of the thin client box. The fewer parts on the station, the less likely it is to break. If it's fanless, that makes it even better. Thus, a thin client can last you ten years or more without a hiccup.
4.) You can actually take greater advantage of your server CPU's, thus saving money. Mainframe sysadmins have known about this for decades, and now we PC-types are finally getting the picture.
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Re:What you can do...
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on November 19, 2006 04:38 PMBut even though the purchase price is somewhat lower, the reasons that organizations run thin clients are not so much the initial purchase price (though that is one factor, sure), but rather the following:
1.) Security. All your user data is stored in one place...backed up, of course, if you're smart.<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-)
2.) Ease of upgrading software for multiple stations. With thin-client environments, you don't have to upgrade, say, OpenOffice.org on 40 individual stations. You just do it once, and every station sees the new version automagically.
3.) Longer life of the thin client box. The fewer parts on the station, the less likely it is to break. If it's fanless, that makes it even better. Thus, a thin client can last you ten years or more without a hiccup.
4.) You can actually take greater advantage of your server CPU's, thus saving money. Mainframe sysadmins have known about this for decades, and now we PC-types are finally getting the picture.
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