Pi 3B+ vs HP t610 Thin Client - Battle of the $35 PCs

[@MiguelAngel-zm2tq]

Pi advantages: small, powerless and GPIO, Second hand Thinclient advantages: solid, stable, faster interfaces speed, hard disk, cheap pc ram. I have a T620 (cost to me 55€ on ebay) and a raspberry pi3 (cost to me 40€) and there is no comparison if you dont use GPIO devices, i prefer the thinclient, its a cheap pc, have a lot of port USB, RS232, etc.. low power (10W aprox running) and a much faster pc for everything i want to do.

[@VV-wl8gb]

I was very happy to stumble across your video as I share the same opinion :) I got my T610 for 5 euros on a second hand tech market and it's been amazing. I am running openmediavault with OpenVPN, Home Assistant, Airsonic, Heimdall, 3x Wordpress sites and it flies! Database performance is relatively slow though and I bought a T630 which should be much faster and more power efficient. The T610 idles around 15W while the T630 can go lower than 5W. I tend to use Rpi and other SBCs for smaller applications which usually includes - Home Assistant, Pi hole and OpenVPN. But the OpenVPN performance is vastly better on the thin clients. The t610 can push 50Mbps without a problem. WIreguard is supposed to be much faster than OpenVPN so it should be even better with it. Note that the T620 is the odd one by having only a single ssd slot. The T610 has 3 (2 SATA + 1 IDE), while the T630 has 2 m.2. This is great for software RAID.

[@AnotherMaker]

You're exactly right. I've looked at the 620/630 but never got my hands on one. I also looked at one of the Asus EEE PCs that had better specs in every way than the T610 but it didn't actually test any better, so I left it out of the review.

[@okanerdem]

How can do that? you are using esxi? I mean how can they work together on the one thinclient?

[@VV-wl8gb]

@@okanerdem Everything lives in Docker containers. The slow database speeds I attribute to the crappy ssds. After migrating to the T630, there is not difference in the VPN performance compared to the T610 on my 100mbps down 50mbps up connection using either OpenVPN or WireGuard, so I would say the T610 is still a steal!

[@okanerdem]

@@VV-wl8gb How to use docker on thinclient? I mean installed on ubuntu or another linux?

[@VV-wl8gb]

@@okanerdem Yes, as I said I use Open Media Vault (OMV) but any LInux distro would work.

[@hanshernandez5513]

Great video! I just set up a powerful pfsense firewall with a hp thin client T620 plus.

[@AnotherMaker]

Very nice! I will eventually go back to pfsense. I used it in Alaska, and my office network is getting a little more complicated, so I'm sure it's coming back soon.

[@bendirval3612]

I actually think the pi is good for a lightly used home server because it uses so little electricity. In a 24/7 application, that matters. What the thin client would be way better for is an HTPC. Lots of people (myself included) use pis for that and they aren't that great.

[@AnotherMaker]

Absolutely. I also updated my retropie to a pi4 and I'm already sick of the fan noise.

[@JeremyJanzen]

It’s a good comparison but really you need to evaluate power too. Many people use Pis as cheap servers because they are incredibly efficient at what they do, which can save a surprising amount of money each year.

[@AnotherMaker]

Yep. I mentioned that a little bit. My Kill-a-watt died so I'm doing a test with 3 arduinos and 2 thin clients, power included. You're absolutely right though.

[@pileofstuff]

Choose your hardware for your application. That's the important take-away here. That's my usual reply when I'm using an arduino pro mini for some little task and people complain that I should have used some more "modern" thing like an ESP32.

[@AnotherMaker]

Absolutely right!

[@user-ej4yu5ce4o]

RPI lose here. How much does it cost to buy RPI, rpi case, rpi power supply, rpi sdcard? It's not just the cost of RPI alone. You need other stuff to make it near functional as a thin client. Thin client already have all that. Board, case, power supply, probably an emmc storage

[@AnotherMaker]

Yeah. Pi's big advantage is preconfigured images for arcades and servers. Otherwise I prefer PCs

[@StoneLegion]

Can you plug the 2 in and just run idle in linux and give us a Power Reading? I like to see what consumes more power for say something basic like pi-hole/dns server.

[@AnotherMaker]

Absolutely. My Kill-a-watt died so I bought another model but couldn't get that in there for testing. I'm going to do a 3b, 3b+, and 4 vs 2 mini pcs and let you know!

[@VV-wl8gb]

Mine idles around 15W. I think moderate use gets it to 18W. The T630, however, can idle lower than 5W and it is much more powerful!

[@nikiforossarantoglou5917]

My question though is why compare 3b+ instead of 4b with 1G ram? The difference price-wise in my country is around 3 euros (35€ vs 38€). I don't think it's fair towards raspberry. Let alone the fact you compare new price vs used price. I do get your point but you cannot conclude on something with such comparisons other than "this machine that I was lucky enough to find here for low price works better for what I want it vs the other machine I have here that I purchased as new". Sure, IF someone finds cheap stuff, he COULD buy and do this job but it is hypothetical and nothing to be generalizing. I take your video as an advice which is much appreciated!

[@AnotherMaker]

I'm doing a separate video on the 4 vs a slightly more expensive thin client. In my area it's hard to get a 4 with the needed adapters etc for less than $80-ish dollars, so I'm comparing a thin client at the same price. I think both of those could be usable desktop pcs, so I want to do some more testing. Thanks for the feedback! It's really appreciated!

[@nikiforossarantoglou5917]

​@@AnotherMaker I only mentioned because most of the hardware drawbacks of the pi you mentioned are solved in the 4b version! It's independent gig ethernet plus the USB 3.0. Also even though running windows is a real advantage, if the use is for something like a NAS or media server, I believe cpu architecture isn't something restrictive. Anyhow, looking forward for your other video!

[@AnotherMaker]

@@nikiforossarantoglou5917 Absolutely. The only drawbacks for me on the pi 4 are (not dealbreakers) the smaller hdmi ports, different power supply and additional cost. I think it's going to prove to really hold its own though.

[@pablitopanes4872]

Can it be used just to play music like connecting it to a mixer and amplifier?

[@rekkosdiary4907]

Hello, Mr. Man!! I heard the Thin Client was dangerous for long uses. Does it overheat? :

[@AnotherMaker]

Mine doesn't. I used mine for software development so it ran 24 hours a day for probably 18 months.

[@rekkosdiary4907]

@@AnotherMaker oh! That's great news! Thank you, Mr. Man!!

[@thedavesofourlives1]

if you're worried, just leave the side off

[@AndyMelton]

I was hoping this video was going to compare speeds of using a Raspberry Pi and the HP t610 as actual thin clients. I wrote an article a couple of years ago for turning a Raspberry Pi into a thin client (andymelton.net/2017/12/raspberry-pi-windows-rdp-thin-client/). Since then I've been wanting to get one of the many thin clients on eBay just to see how the performance compares. That being said, I didn't ever realize you could actually take one of those thin clients and turn it into a full fledged desktop. I don't know why that never dawned on me, but it didn't. Thanks for the video!

[@AnotherMaker]

Ahh. That's great. Yeah. I don't really use thin clients as thin clients....and as far as the full-fledged windows, it's not always obvious. I have definitely had driver issues trying to make it work on other models. It all depends on if the hardware is standard or not.

[@AndyMelton]

@@AnotherMaker I bought an HP t530 and installed Windows 10 Pro on it. It came with 32 GB of SSD storage and 4 GB of RAM. Off the top of my head, I believe it has a 1.5 GHz dual-core AMD processor. I only paid $49! For that price, I will not complain about performance. That being said, performance is pretty amazing. I've only used it so far to stream TV via HDHomeRun and as an RDP client. RDP client performance is amazing! I've been able to stream KZbin with almost no latency. I've started watching eBay to see if I can snag a similar deal on a couple more.

[@edbouhl3100]

If you did a power and/or speed comparison of the Pi vs the Thin, I can’t find it. Could you put a link in the description? Thanks.

[@AnotherMaker]

I did the work, but I didn't actually make the video. I need to dig up the results. I have them in a notebook around here somewhere. I will look.

[@pawel0411]

Could you compare performance between this two devices?

[@AnotherMaker]

Yes! I have a video coming out that does a benchmark and shows power consumption.

[@yorks_atheist3069]

just got my hands on a wyze 5020 for £40 Inc PSU 32GB drive and 8GB of ram going to be my new octoprint box

[@AnotherMaker]

That should do it. Even more relevant with the cost of Pis now. Here in the US a Pi 3/4 is over $100 by itself if you can find it

[@SortofGoodwithTech]

I just brought a wyse thin client because raspberry pi’s are expensive and sold out

[@AnotherMaker]

It really is sad. Although you can do a lot with the same client that you can't do with the pi... So maybe it's good that we expand our horizons a little bit

[@asriazmi]

please make another video in similar fashion but maybe using dell wyse

[@AnotherMaker]

I will have to see if I can find one!

[@TechCowboy]

Once you get into ebay's unreasonable shipping costs, they're no longer comparable.

[@AnotherMaker]

It depends on where you live and where you are buying them from but all of the ones I have purchased were free shipping.

[@SimpleElectronics]

I have some available to me on EBay which are 40$ including shipping - I can't even buy the bare RPi 4 for that! Just keep looking and you'll find one too!

[@TechCowboy]

@@SimpleElectronics I'm in Canada, so shipping is insane even within Canada.

[@SuperWolfkin]

@@TechCowboy ahh fellow Canadian. I too feel your frustration with all these deals videos you can't participate it.

[@d.j.tweets375]

@@SuperWolfkin: Occasionally you will spot these on your local or Kijiji classified ads - I'm debating on acquiring one now (hence why I'm viewing any videos to glean any pertinent info with which to aid in my decision). The additional delivery fees + taxes can add enough to inflate the purchase price so as to not make it worthwhile (as just another Canuck, I must agree that it can be frustrating to effectively witness the doubling of the total price investment here in Canada from their origin in The USA)! Buying local takes the delivery & HST fees out of the equation and you can also inspect the unit prior to purchase - it also helps if you already have spare parts to utilize without incurring additional costs or needlessly contributing to salvageable parts just ending up as Ewaste!

[@SilverSpoon_]

I'm really just looking for a smol PC that will be more a console that reads movies on VLC and watch youtube or other streaming stuff. Pretty sure a RBP cannit deliver this on a proper Linux install.

[@AnotherMaker]

The Pi would do it, but they've gotten more expensive during the pandemic. I'm thinking a thin client may be a better choice than ever.

[@SilverSpoon_]

@@AnotherMaker yep, there's a bunch on sites like ebay or second hand from enterprises that have closed (sadly) was thinking of a HP, Wyse or something... Or find a mini ITX platform, slam a i3 or some low voltage processor on it, 4 gigs of RAM, and fit in in some old console like I did with a NES years ago. I have a 8bitty MasterSystem around, that'd be fun~

[@Vadinaka]

Did someone tried to install pFsense on it please?

[@AnotherMaker]

I've never tried PFSense on this (had it on other stuff), but it seems perfect assuming you get a good USB3 NIC for the second one.

[@Vadinaka]

Another Maker I went with the T730. Had a very good deal, and bought an Intel i350 NIC with 4 gigabit ports. Waiting for some spare disks, I order to install pFsense with mirror disks, and think this is a good setup.

[@mizuniferdtaborada2116]

Is the t610 cpu upgradable?

[@AnotherMaker]

It is not. It's soldered onto the motherboard.

[@arentertainment8211]

you can get Thin Client wit desk top cpu in them tho and upgrade them

[@brandonbarr2784]

They turn them into clients not servers

[@AnotherMaker]

I actually use them as both.

[@thedavesofourlives1]

PI doesn't come with wifi either

[@AnotherMaker]

The early ones and the regular Pi Zero doesn't, but the later ones and Pi Zero W do.