Thin clients vs. desktops in an education environment
May 26, 2008
(This is one of my most popular blog posts. Please contact me at njulka@smartsolutionsonline.com if you would like to learn more about this topic.)
A question that repeatedly comes up with our clients is: should districts move towards a thin client environment?
Thin clients, for non-technical people, are pieces of computer equipment in which the bulk of the processing is done on the server. The thin client has no hard drive, no processor, and no moving parts. Therefore, thin clients have a much longer life span than standard desktops, and also use significantly less power.
Other advantages of thin clients include lower maintenance costs because changes can be executed server-side and break-fix simply requires replacing the client. There are also lower deployment costs because thin clients do not need to be individually set up.
Smart Solutions has been the vendor for some of the largest thin client deployments at school districts in the State of Ohio.
With all the advantages of thin clients, some would argue that they are a no-brainer for cash-strapped districts. Not so fast.
The biggest problem with thin clients, in our experience, is that they are not yet able to handle the wide range of applications that some districts use. For example, we had one client who tried pushing streaming media through their thin client environment, and it simply did not function properly.
Our advice would be to not go thin client unless the district robustly tests the clients with its set of applications. Thin clients are great for basic web browsing and word processing, but not great for video and other media.
Ultimately, hardware decisions rely upon the curricular goals of the district. The best solution for districts typically falls somewhere in between. It may include thin clients throughout the district, fat client labs, and lap tops/desktops for teachers and administrators.