Creating a small office Network. Should I consider thin clients?

Rodger,

The above comments are correct, but miss some of the major points.

1. You mention Word, Excel and Outlook - MS Office can be run on a thin client, but it costs almost the same per seat (if not more as you must buy seats in blocks) as a standalone version - no savings there. And these days Office will cost as much or more as a Vista PC.

2. ACT is a windows app - I do not believe it is designed for thin clients

3. PDF viewers usually run on the client, not on the server

All of these issues exist because you are choosing a Windows solution, which is your right. But Windows was never a thin client system, it is a client-server system, where data is stored on the server and apps run on the client. Trying to make it into a thin client system is asking for a lot of pain

There are alternatives to every program you list, and they do support a thin client system, but you will need to consider the Linux OS and Open Source applications to reach your goal. Check out Red Hat and Suse (Novell). These companies can supply you with Enterprise ready, world class software, solutions and support while reducing your hardware costs.

Give it a shot

Don't bother with thin clients in that small of a deployment. While the thin client hardware is cheaper than PCs are, the licensing cost of Terminal Services will wipe out any benefit there. To be cost effective you need between about 15 and 20 clients.

The RAM in the thin client is only needed for the RDP client and the video display and a smidgen for any audio. The apps themselves are installed on the Terminal Server.

Skype might be an issue in a TS environment. I've never installed it on a TS box and have no idea if it's TS compatible or not. And ACT! can be a pig in a TS environment.

3 clients in a client-server environment are not going to generate much in the way of network traffic. I've set up segments with 150 engineering workstations running 3D AutoCAD without network loading becoming a meaningful issue. Stick with a traditional client-server architecture and you'll be fine.

I don't know why you would bother with a thin client. They might be half the cost of a PC but then factor in that you will still need a keyboard, mouse and monitor and your savings aren't that great.

Plus the fact that most thin clients are pathetically underpowered compared with even a low end PC.

And you are playing hostage to the server and if you have a server problem then your whole office goes down.

you said the magic word. SKYPE.

thin clients are not high performance sound/video performers. unless you have a super powerful server, with lots of bandwidth, and citrix.

use a simple file and print server (with raid5 and redundant power supplies), and ensure all user data is stored on the server.

vista control panel network and sharing center left pane set up a connection or network choose one and follow on screen instructions xp control panel network connection left pane set up a network Ok you have your modem connected to your computer now but to get started you conect your modem to the router after setting it up using the software that came with it. after that it should be ready to go. now you can start to connect computers. guessing that you bought a wierrless router you can connect a computer to it by plugging the eathernet cord coneccted to your router (cord from router to desktop) your computer should pick it up if not start to dignose it. on windows vista or xp. for wierless you need to have a desktop with a wierless card in it or a laptop with a wierless card. Bolth wierless cards need to be the same signal of the router or you need to change settings on your wired computer . type in the ip address of your router in IE after that you should be ready to go.