Thin Client / Thick Client
Thin Clients
A thin client is the term used when a dummy pc is used, a network PC without HDD to act as a terminal. This is because the data processing mostly occurs on the server itself. It is also a term used when most of the software of the network pc you are using is on the server itself rather than the pc. Thin clients require constant server communication to be keep running the way it should.
Thick Clients a thick client is the term used when a network pc that does most of its own processing for on the client itself rather than the server like a thin client. It also refers to the fact software is on the PC itself rather than a server. If the applications you are using require multimedia components or are bandwidth intensive a thick client will be much more effective.
Advantages and Disadvantages -Thin Clients-
- Easy to deploy requiring no extra or specialised software installations
- Need to validate with the server after data capture
- If the server goes down the collection of the data will go down
- Any workstation can be used on the network to do the same thing
- Reduced security threat
-Thick Clients-
- Thick clients are much more expensive and require more IT work in the future
- Data verified by client immediately
- Only requires some communication with server
- Reduced server demands
- Increased security issues
