10ZiG 5818v Review – First Impressions

In this series of posts I’m going to be looking at the all new 10ZiG 5818v Thin Client.

Recently released and coming with Intel Atom D2550 CPU this thin client sets its self apart from others with the introduction of Windows Embedded 8 (WE8).

WE8 is essentially a cut down version of Windows 8 that is focused on devices that have limited storage space and are designed to fill a single role (like digital signage players, connectivity to Remote Desktop Services Farms and connectivity to VDI like Citrix VDI-in-a-Box).

Through this series of posts I’m going to be looking at the hardware of the thin client, the WE8 operating system including the tweaks 10ZiG have made to it as well as the performance of the thin client when connected to VDI sessions.

After unboxing and powering on my first impressions of the 5818v have been very positive particularly around

• UEFI boot with a boot time of around 25s
• The low power consumption
• The array of ports
• The robustness of design

UEFI boot and boot time
UEFI is basically the replacement to BIOS (those lines of white text on a black background that your PC runs through before starting Windows), its much faster than BIOS (under one or two seconds commonly to go to launching Windows) and makes for very fast ‘time to desktop’. First testing shows that this thin client boots in around 25 seconds (with fast boot turned on).

Low power consumption
Thin client computing is all about taking the processing away from the users desktop and putting in a well maintained server room/data centre, one of the key advantages of this model is the lower overall power consumption.

The 5818v with its improved Atom processor works on just 10.4W of power when idle and only pushes as high as 14.3W when under full CPU utilisation. To put that in perspective when on a gym bike going at a medium speed you can kick out about 130W – that would be enough to power at least 9 of these thin clients with no issues!

Array of ports
Dual rear DVI (which can be converted to VGA/HDMI) gives this thin client the flexibility to be used in modern multi monitor setups, add that onto the dual rear and dual front USB ports, 1 gigabit Ethernet port, one PS2 style keyboard port, front audio ports and best of all Kensington lock port and you have one of the most flexible thin clients going.

Best of all the use of WE8 (and so the full set of Windows 8 drivers) on this thin client allows you to use a array of USB devices from Lync IP phones to wireless keyboards/mice (stay tuned for demo).

Robustness of design
The strong case has certainly been designed to keep pace with harsh environments (work shops/classrooms) and to top everything off a 3 year warranty comes as standard (something to factor in when you do a direct fat client/thin client + VDI price comparison).

What is next?
Stay tuned for the next post where I will be taking a closer look at the hardware on the 5818v…