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Fit PC part of new breed of low-power PCs for schools

I've had really outstanding luck with thin clients in my school. Easy management, extremely low power consumption, and quiet operation have been paired with vastly increased access to Web and productivity applications at reasonable cost.
Written by Christopher Dawson, Contributor

I've had really outstanding luck with thin clients in my school. Easy management, extremely low power consumption, and quiet operation have been paired with vastly increased access to Web and productivity applications at reasonable cost. I've hit networking snags, no doubt, and have had to learn the ins and outs of Microsoft Terminal Services, but I really can't complain. There is simply no other way that I could successfully administer this many computers (and teach classes, administer databases, etc.) without the thin clients in place. They just plain save me too much time.

They aren't perfect for every application, though. As I've discussed in the past, processor- and graphics-intensive applications shouldn't be run on them. They are for light duty applications, only. For me, they sit in rooms devoted to web access/research, office productivity applications, and instruction in business applications. As such, they represent a growing trend in many educational settings (especially K-12) towards greener technologies that provide students with what they need, without devoting financial or environmental resources to what they don't.

Falling somewhere between the essentially dumb terminals deployed around my school and full function, standalone PCs is the Fit PC, by Compulab. ExtremeTech is featuring a great review of these devices that got me thinking of countless ed tech settings that could really benefit from these tiny computers. While the $285 price tag actually seems a little steep for the feature set and lackluster performance highlighted in the article, I think it's safe to expect that this is an early entry into what may be a rapidly expanding and valuable market for education. Let me start with the basics of this 5"x5" computer and then I'll discuss how I envision machines like these being used.

The Fit PC itself actually has a motherboard/processor setup similar to that of the OLPC, relying on AMD's Geode processor for passive cooling and negligible power usage. According to the Fit PC website:

fit-PC is so small and quiet it can fit anywhere. You can tuck the fit-PC in a drawer, attach it to the back of your display, mount it on the wall or just lay the fit-PC on top of your DVD player...With today’s flat panel monitors, the traditional PC is the device that is taking up the most space at any computer station. The fit-PC can replace the traditional PC in many cases. It can be attached to the back of the flat panel or to the underside of the desk, which will free valuable space and will save a significant amount of electricity. A green computer for 24 / 7 operation, fit-PC draws only 5 Watts, consuming in a day less power than a traditional PC consumes in 1 hour. You can leave fit-PC to work 24/7 without making a dent in your electric bill...fit-PC incorporates a state-of-the-art embedded computer in an all aluminum case that is splash and dust resistant. fit-PC is fanless - using the case itself for heat removal.

Obviously all of this space-saving environmental goodness comes at a significant performance price. The meager 256MB RAM means that multitasking is largely out of the question and the 40GB hard drive is no 7200RPM SATA speed demon. However, it's far more capable than many thin clients, the cheapest of which do not allow any independent use and require a terminal server connection for any actual utility. These machines allow standalone web browsing and ran OpenOffice without too much fuss in ExtremeTech's testing (they come with Linux pre-installed). Obviously, they could also connect via RDP to a Terminal Server or handle Citrix sessions if needed, such that local performance becomes a non-issue.

In how many places could you imagine a standalone machine dedicated to Web access in a school? Ideally, since this computer would need to be quickly accessible all of the time, it would always stay on, so silent, efficient operation would be a must; the ability to run Autocad would not. Teacher's lounges, libraries, classrooms, cafeterias, study halls, and homerooms could all benefit from machines like this and wouldn't require the infrastructure or backend processing power associated with thin clients.

As prices drop further and this market grows, fully-functional, stripped-down, earth-friendly products like the Fit PC could have a real place in our schools.

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