– USB devices may become more complicated to use. – Can be protocol specific, so if you change infrastructures you may need new devices. What are the advantages and disadvantages of these types of clients? No data is stored on device so perfect for secure environments.Huge cost savings vs purchasing thick clients.These clients of course are the most expensive to run and maintain. Thin clients are similar to zero clients on the outside, but contain a CPU, memory, storage and an operating system to make them run.Ī thick client would be a regular laptop or desktop, running a standard OS and the software client. Benefits of a zero client include highly efficient energy use, and next to no device management – just configure and deploy. Zero clients have no local storage, operating system or CPU, just a chip that decodes PCoIP at the hardware level and renders the pixels onto the user’s display. What’s the difference between a thin client, thick client, and a zero client? Read on as we explain your client options for VMware Horizon View. Our research tells us many of you are wondering about zero clients and thin clients their differences and function. What are zero clients and thin clients you ask? No, they’re not skinny customers, they are hardware devices which rely on the server to do most of the work while they serve merely to deliver input and output back and forth for the user.