What is Digg?57 Comments
- soulrubble, on 10/12/2007, -0/+26These are thin clients, not desktops. In that context, this isn't earth-shattering.
- spectre_25gt, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15You're saying you have a p3 server that takes less than 4 watts to operate? I'm sorry, but I'm going to call BS on that one.
- jeremy66158, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Good points "nickaster" to make but one more thing is this should not be called a desktop because most people think of a desktop as being self contained. These are "clients" which require an additional real computer to work.
- gotamd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Sun doesn't use many Xeons, so I doubt the server would be running them. It's probably more likely to be one of their Sparc's or an Opteron.
- nickaster, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9Excellent. How big are computers in general for power consumption? Even a comparative energy hog still isn't that big a deal when compared with lighting (in general) and other power uses, is it? I'll bet you could slap up some small solar panels on this one and really go for it - but how much does the monitor use?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I wouldn't be so sure about that. The average LCD consumes no more power than a modern CPU. You can figure a CPU will consume around 70 to 100 watts. The average LCD consumes around 75 watts. I think hard drives only consume about 10 or 20 watts each, but a video card can easily run another 75 watts. Maybe more.
Sure, if you have a giant CRT, you're going to consume almost as much power as your whole computer probably does (around 300 watts), but how many people are moving to LCDs these days? Quite a few. - zonk3r, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6indeed. you might as well be running a handheld computer as thin clients don't really have any cpu power behind them (which is btw, the entire point). they are generally used in conjunction with big-iron servers that do all the work with a ton of these things in various branches, say at a bank with the clients serving as teller stations.
so yeah, it isn't really surprising that this thing doesn't suck much juice... - Izzie, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7mislabeled title and misleading news !
these are not desktop computer but clients to use inside a desktop infrastructure that requires at least one server. The new version of the sun client uses 4watts of power consumption, half the previous one. it's an achievement but not of the kind of cutting a regular desktop computer to 4 watts. - gotamd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6We use Sun clients at my college, and when I was touring other schools, I saw that a lot of them use them as well. They make a lot of sense for kiosk-type computers for browsing the web and checking email.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Given that they're designed to run almost entirely off of the network they're plugged into, I'd assume it's your network that's slow, not the Sunrays.
- TommyTheKid, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4While the title of this article is messed up, you have to admit, they do look better than their predecessors. Sun doesn't make consumer products, its not a desktop. Its for something like a call center where you have 100's or 1000's of "drones" that just use some basic applications like web/email/etc... If each of them has a PC, at 80-150 watts (for low end PC's), that adds up pretty quick. If each of them has a 4 watt Sun Ray 2, and they are logged into "servers" Like the Sun Fire T2000 (32 CPU in 3U using only 300W) which can serve a desktop for probably 300 users... the power savings becomes a pretty big deal. Let's not even take into consideration keeping 1000's of windows PC's updates and virus definitions and licensing fees/costs associated with that. :)
Sorry.. off my soap box. - Karyyk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4And for the sake of comparison, a Wyse 3200 thin client uses between 5-7 watts, depending on what activity. 4 watts is hardly earth-shattering for the form factor.
- longman2g, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4haha, the people on treehugger.com where this was posted don't like the article
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5They're a lot better looking than the currently deployed SunRays which basically look like a giant gray deck of cards in a plastic angled base. It ends up looking like an ugly purple and gray clamshell and it actually gets in the way because it can fall out of the base easily. The new ones look much simpler and comfortable to have on the desktop and plut things into or move around.
- detrux, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7your mom does
Seriously though, loads of corporations use them in a lan setting - thespacepope, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3my dell 20" widescreen LCD (2005FPW) is currently drawing ~55 watts (as measured by one of those kill-a-watt things)
- finnif, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Nickaster, the answer is... desktops are a MASSIVE power drain. Already, large companies moved from CRTs to LCDs. They did this not because they're brighter or easier on the eyes, but because if you have enough of them, they'll make up the difference in electricity costs in a year or less!
I think this news is really exciting, though unfortunately they seem like glorified X-Stations from way back. Just to clarify for everyone... we've gone from mainframes -> PCs -> mainframes in 20 years. Not bad. - Laughingman234, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6All thin clients use almost no power....because they arent a real computer.
- jrsims, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Sun makes great technology. Just wish they'd get their product design right. The wide bases on those devices make them look cheap, ugly, and don't minimize their footprints as well as they could.
But maybe if those stands are detachable... - MateyO, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3@oringo
That's only for CRT based monitors. LCD's consume considerably less power. - spectre_25gt, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5Ok, this is not a desktop computer. Thin clients are a totally different animal. I want to report the story as inaccurate, but the submitter got things right. It was the writer of the article who got it wrong. Anyone know the correct ediquette here?
- Karyyk, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4This is comparing apples to oranges at best, misinformation at worst. Winterms are frankly slow and inefficient, and the cost savings isn't that much once you take all of the licensing into account. I like Sun, but this is lame...
- Sturmur, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Too bad the SunRays we have at the RMC library are fecking slow.
- syberghost, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4The client uses less electricity. However, it generates lots of network traffic, which means you need a more robust network infrastructure, which uses more electricity and dissipates more heat. It requires much more robust servers, which use more electricity and dissipate more heat. In the end it probably evens out, since you can let PCs stay in a hotter room than you would want your expensive Sun servers to live in.
However, if you get over the stupid green *****, these are really neat. We tried to convince our employer to let us do this in our mostly-Sun shop a few years ago, and will continue trying because they're so damn cool. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I meant to add the following, but digg wouldn't let me update the comment even though the time wasn't out:
And of course, you login to them by sliding your java badge into them. That makes it easy to walk out of the building for lunch and forget to take your card out of your computer and then you end up with no way to get back in the building. :) - MightyGiant, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2People that misunderstand thin client computing make you laugh.
- vuke69, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I hate to break it to you, but they generally do generate more traffic than a normal PC would. Its not a ton of bandwidth, but a never ending stream of packets. But your definition of high traffic may be different than mine.
- bigtomrodney, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1You can remote any terminal server. This whole thread just shows a complete lack of understanding of thin client computing. Firstly the person who referred to client computing. Any computer on a domain is a client. Yes thin clients have a bigger footprint than a straight forward client connection, but in a situation where a thin client environment is deployed you're usually looking at saving three to four application connections so thin client is more efficient. Arguing that the servers use a hunk of power doesn't cut it either, as in a domain setup you'd be looking at having this kind of server in place anyway - and the thin client model removes the need for things like authentication calls, network shares and in the case of share, completely removes the associated heavy traffic.
This article should have been reworded, seems noone here knows anything about terminal services/thin clients/XDMCP etc. - cphuntington97, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I have no practical applications for a sun thin client but I still think smart cards are really cool.
- spiderland, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2DIRECT LINK: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060412/sfw050.html
Most of Justin's (cephoe) submissions are from treehugger. Just say no to blog spam. - cduquette, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2My college has a whole computer center of Sun thin computers. They're all linked up to some powerhouse server somewhere and gets fed the data. I'm sure the server uses its fair share of power too. They run pretty good though, I was impressed when I used them at my school. I'm sure they're low cost which is good.
- 3Den, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Not even thin-client..these are a remote framebuffer, and omse I/o devices.. even the X server runs ont he server machine.
Pro: you can have your desktop persistant, and pop your smartcard in/out from whatever terminal you want and have your desktop come up there.
Pro: Easy hardware maintenance, only a few big servers to worry about.
Con: Solaris Only - Reddog_x2000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Cool, now I can surf porn without feeling guilty about contributing to global warming.
- cliffzdude, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5My nightlight consumes just 1 watt...
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Not true I've seen a windows session on a sun ray either full screen or as just another window in a unix desktop session. And I think it's possible to connect to a linux box but we didn't have enough time to get that going
- EE9EE, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Wrong. You can run Solaris, Linux, and the new Sun Ray Server 4 (it's in Beta) will support Windows Terminal Services.
http://www.sun.com/software/sunray/srs_beta/index.xml
I've heard they're eventually going to open source it and give it away, much the same way they are doing with pretty much all their software these days. But the current version 3.1 still costs about $99 per license for each Sun Ray that you have running. - samsoffes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1thin client, its so freaking literal!
- Buelldozer, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4I haven't seen so many people in one place misunderstand thin client computing since the last C Level executive retreat I was at.
Some of you people are in need of serious eduction about thin client computing. Especially the doofus who said that they generate more network traffic then a regular PC.
Talk about making me laugh! - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -6/+6They're really just jumped up KVMs
- burnt1ce85, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1this is what Google needs
- retral, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Wouldn't a PDA consume less power? I bet most probably rival these things..
- natebmiller, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0We have alot of thin clients at my company, and they are a pain in the ass. As a kiosk for just surfing the web they are fine, but personally I think that is about all they are good for.
- Athens101, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Meh, one of the only reasons I use a Ultra5 with a Ultra10 440mhz 4mb cache for our little server is that it only takes 80W to power it. When the power goes out in this neck "it does often" the UPS can keep it going for a while.
My AMD64 uses 600W OTOH :( - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1for the general public info:
Full system=~180W
20W- incandescent desk lamp
20W- ~17" LCD
2W- speakers
that leaves 138W to the damn computer. Only peripherals are a wireless mouse reciever, and a couple LEDs in a USB cable charging my ipod.
ridiculous. - slochewie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I would really like to get one of these new ones. My work has two offices with SunRays deployed. Previously we had an X-server running at each office and each desk had a computer running as a thin client. Now we have SunRay 1Gs at each desk. We also have two Sun V20z servers at each office to run the SunRays off of. We replaced all CRT monitors with 17" LCD monitors. 32 SunRays deployed at my office alone and about the same at the other office. It's easy to see the energy cost savings even with the addition of the extra server. Take into account that they have no real moving parts, so they don't wear out and you can expect one to last 5-10 years. On the off chance one breaks a new one only costs around $300 new. The only thing you really have to worry about maintaining or upgrading are the servers.
- ndonohue, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0all I have to say about this is WHOOP DI FREAKIN DOO.
Although, it would be funny to see some tree-hugger friend buy this because it "kills 6 less trees per hour" or something like that and then find out it isn't a real computer - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -5/+4They aren't exactly even thin-clients, either. Everything is on the server - the authentication, the operating system, the applications.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1That actually sounds like a good deal. It's cheeper (it seems), doesn't use as much power, and runs pretty slick from what I've seen. Nice.
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Come on diggers help me out! Visit this link! http://gh.ffshrine.org?r=3654 (217/1000) - syberghost, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I think it's to make fun of your spelling error, then down-digg you. It's turtles all the way to the bottom here on the intarweb.
And by "turtles" I mean "*****". - cliffzdude, on 10/12/2007, -6/+4Besides, thin-clients are not desktops. Bone-heads..
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