I've been a big fan of the HP thin clients for a few years now, as I'm off-grid for electricity, low power consumption is important for me.

I started with the t610 Plus then went to the t630 and now I'm on the t730 Plus.

The t610 was ok for general browsing and vid watching but running 2 monitors with Netflix on one and a browser on the other, it struggled sometimes, so I upgraded to the t630.

The t630 performed much better and even less power usage, usually sitting around 8 watts which is pretty amazing. Unfortunately I fried the primary DisplayPort on this recently when I accidently shorted the powerjack to the case.

The t730 uses more power at around 30 watts, but it's performance is very impressive. Recently I've played through Ember and Stardew Valley on it with no performance issues.

I'll be looking forward to future updates from you, as I've also been thinking of picking up a faster thin client for my collection. I have a few games that won't run on anything past Windows 7, at least not without a lot of work. I also don't have the room for another tower or desktop on my desk, so I need something in a small form factor. I can't justify paying much for just a few games, so a used thin client might fit the bill.

I use these types of machine for Amiga emulators, but typically in USFF/USDT form factor ...ie; Dell 9020 usff ...HP 800 G1 usdt ..and my latest is a Lenovo M93P tiny micro. They're all based on the intel Q87 chipset, using the HD4xxx IGP for graphics. They're all around the 3GHz i5 CPU (socket CPU).. all have a mSATA slot (some also have m-pci slot)...and the HP 800 elitedesk units also have a pci-e slot for MXM type GPU cards. Great little machines for around the $70 mark...

GoblinUpTheRoad wrote on 2023-09-15, 00:31:

The t730 uses more power at around 30 watts, but it's performance is very impressive. Recently I've played through Ember and Stardew Valley on it with no performance issues.

The T730 is fast, but it doesn't go further back than Windows 10. I wish it had W7 drivers.

giantclam wrote on 2023-09-15, 05:17:

I use these types of machine for Amiga emulators, but typically in USFF/USDT form factor ...ie; Dell 9020 usff ...HP 800 G1 usdt ..and my latest is a Lenovo M93P tiny micro. They're all based on the intel Q87 chipset, using the HD4xxx IGP for graphics. They're all around the 3GHz i5 CPU (socket CPU).. all have a mSATA slot (some also have m-pci slot)...and the HP 800 elitedesk units also have a pci-e slot for MXM type GPU cards. Great little machines for around the $70 mark...

Those are mini PC-s with active cooling. Small and fast, but I'm unsure about their GPU power. Not that the T630 has all that much of it, especially limited to 40% of its output.

(tries to wrap head around the notion of "Thin Client" that has local storage)

wierd_w wrote on 2023-09-15, 05:59:

(tries to wrap head around the notion of "Thin Client" that has local storage)

I've found that the majority of thin clients that I've seen listed on buy/sell sites or eBay have flash storage where the OS is installed. Thin clients without any are usually described as "zero clients". I don't know if they are less common or people just don't see any reason to sell them, but I don't see them show up that much.

My Wyse CX0 came with a 128MB DOM chip, which is the lowest of the three I own. I own the HP T5710 that everyone loves and it came with 512MB. Best of all, these can be swapped for compact flash, so I was able to install Windows 98 on them and load them up with games. My newest thin client is an HP T620, which came with 16GB of flash storage. That was more than enough to install Linux on it.

wierd_w wrote on 2023-09-15, 05:59:

(tries to wrap head around the notion of "Thin Client" that has local storage)

You should see the BIOS in some of them ~ cloud/diskless operation is all fathomed in, you have to open them up and set the management jumper to change anything ; this is how they manage to qualify as thin-clients...

....but a lot goes on, initially, choosing the purchase (this is business/corporate meanderings at meetings I've been part of) ... if you want to economize to the nth degree, you don't include optical drive, sata ports, msata/m-pci slots, you barebones it right down to a netbooting thin-client, but when you're doing this you're factoring in the eventual obsolescence/replacement of the machines you're buying now, and the resale/sell-on value for 'true' thin-clients is very low ~ if you've got the other options (even though you might not use them), the machine is worth more at EOL just because it can be deployed as a stand-alone desktop machine.

The m93p is the peach, not only due to it's size but also HDMI out... any time I go to niece/nephew/grandchildren on visit, I always throw it in a bag with a couple of SFC pads, plug into any teevee/HDMI display, good to go for retro gaming =)

RandomStranger wrote on 2023-09-15, 05:54:

The T730 is fast, but it doesn't go further back than Windows 10. I wish it had W7 drivers.

https://support.hp.com/br-pt/drivers/hp-t730- … -client/8604909

There are these drivers that work perfectly on Windows 7.

I also used Snapper Drivers and using that I was able to install Windows 7 64, and also Windows XP SP3.

https://sdi-tool.org/download/

In Windows XP, only the TPM v1.2 driver does not identify it, but TPM v1.2 is not used natively in Win-XP. Also to install XP on the T730, you need to change the use of storage from AHCI to IDE in the BIOS!!!

I was very impressed with the performance of the T730 to run games directly without having to install any PCIe GPU, running games like FarCry, Crysis, Crysis Warhead, C & C Generals directly on the native "AMD FirePro W2100" GPU... I'm loving it the T730 and I will use it to run my games from up to 2016... I will also test Fallout4 and others from that time that are relatively heavy and require a Dedicated GPU...

I installed a 512GB M2 Sata2 SSD, and I also intend to install inside the case, a 2TB Sata3 HD 2,5" using the internal USB3 interface, and on this HD copy my collection of vintage games in Dosbox and various Emulators...

I bought a T730 here in Brazil for US$73, it's not new, it's used but very well preserved, with 8GB of RAM, 128GB M2 SSD and native Wi-Fi + Bluetooth card with the original built-in antenna wiring.

I contacted the seller today (Mercado Libre Brasil) to order 2 more pieces of the T730 for me to buy... I also love HP Thin Clients!!! I'm also testing the T510, T610, T620, T5730 & T5740... Apart from these from HP, I bought the Fujitsu Siemens Futro S220 on Ebay last year and I installed Windows 98SE on it...

felixcatx wrote on 2024-07-10, 19:25:

https://support.hp.com/br-pt/drivers/hp-t730- … -client/8604909 […]
Show full quote

RandomStranger wrote on 2023-09-15, 05:54:

The T730 is fast, but it doesn't go further back than Windows 10. I wish it had W7 drivers.

https://support.hp.com/br-pt/drivers/hp-t730- … -client/8604909

There are these drivers that work perfectly on Windows 7.

I also used Snapper Drivers and using that I was able to install Windows 7 64, and also Windows XP SP3.

https://sdi-tool.org/download/

In Windows XP, only the TPM v1.2 driver does not identify it, but TPM v1.2 is not used natively in Win-XP. Also to install XP on the T730, you need to change the use of storage from AHCI to IDE in the BIOS!!!

I was very impressed with the performance of the T730 to run games directly without having to install any PCIe GPU, running games like FarCry, Crysis, Crysis Warhead, C & C Generals directly on the native "AMD FirePro W2100" GPU... I'm loving it the T730 and I will use it to run my games from up to 2016... I will also test Fallout4 and others from that time that are relatively heavy and require a Dedicated GPU...

I installed a 512GB M2 Sata2 SSD, and I also intend to install inside the case, a 2TB Sata3 HD 2,5" using the internal USB3 interface, and on this HD copy my collection of vintage games in Dosbox and various Emulators...

I bought a T730 here in Brazil for US$73, it's not new, it's used but very well preserved, with 8GB of RAM, 128GB M2 SSD and native Wi-Fi + Bluetooth card with the original built-in antenna wiring.

I contacted the seller today (Mercado Libre Brasil) to order 2 more pieces of the T730 for me to buy... I also love HP Thin Clients!!! I'm also testing the T510, T610, T620, T5730 & T5740... Apart from these from HP, I bought the Fujitsu Siemens Futro S220 on Ebay last year and I installed Windows 98SE on it...

Nice! So, Windows 7 embedded drivers compatible with regular Windows 7... I'm also thinking about buying this thin client in the future, it's small and powerful enough to run games from the late Windows XP & 7 era 😄
How will you be connecting the hard drive, though? Through an adapter? Let me know how it goes. Good luck! 😀

You can squeeze a SATA SSD in there, if you remove the casing. Most new 2.5 inch SATA SSDs are actually 1.8 inch inside.

Nice! So, Windows 7 embedded drivers compatible with regular Windows 7... I'm also thinking about buying this thin client in the future, it's small and powerful enough to run games from the late Windows XP & 7 era 😄
How will you be connecting the hard drive, though? Through an adapter? Let me know how it goes. Good luck! 😀

Hello. I have a 4TB 2.5" USB3 external Western Digital HD, and the plan is to remove the plastic packaging that protects the HD, and fix this HD inside the T730 case. Internally in the T730 case, there is a hidden secure USB3 port! I copied the entire REMOVED collection to this HD and will use it from this HD. On the system disk, I bought a 512 M2-SATA SSD (not NVMe!) locally, and installed Windows 7 Pro on it. And since then I will do more testing, if everything works well, I will fix the USB3 HD inside the T730 case with double-sided adhesive tape and close the case...
When I finish my makeshift, I will try to post some pictures of this mess...

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2024-07-11, 20:38:

You can squeeze a SATA SSD in there, if you remove the casing. Most new 2.5 inch SATA SSDs are actually 1.8 inch inside.

Yes! The size of the internal 2.5" SSD disk mounting plate in some cases is half or 1/3 of the disk size... And you just need to use a small SATA-to-SATA cable to escape the bad spaces, tight corners that can make it difficult to plug in SSDs that don't come in the same standard as DOM's...

I managed to install Windows XP-64 on my HP T-730. I used Snappy Driver Installer, 32-bit version, and installed most of the drivers. The only ones that didn't install were TPM1.2 and the Bluetooth driver for the wireless card. I installed a low-profile GeForce GT730 graphics card and everything worked perfectly! I had tried installing Windows XP SP3 32-bit on the HP T-730, and it didn't detect the GT730 on the PCIe expansion bus... But XP-64 detects it! I used the IE 8.0 installation from Windows Server 2003 R2 64-bit and it worked... Practically all the updates and add-ons for .NET for Win2K3R2-64 work on WinXP-64... XP-64 is SP2, just like W23R2-64... For now, all my apps and games that ran on XPSP3-32-bit are working fine on XP-64! I'm very optimistic!!!

I recently bought an HP T-740 and had a difficult problem trying to install Windows 7 on it... I managed to do it using an updated version of the Windows 7 distribution with support in the USB-3.0 driver installer. In previous attempts, the installer would start but there was no connectivity with the mouse and keyboard... The system loaded without identifying the USB ports... The HP T-740 doesn't have PS2 ports for mouse and keyboard... I installed a Geforce GT1030 on this HP T-740, and it's working very well and running Crysis 1 & 2 very well, and I've started testing Crysis 3 and Fallout 4.... One game that was very bad on the HP T-730 is Postal 4 (GOG), it practically froze everything. On the HP T-740 with the GT1030 it's playable, but still quite slow... I intend to use a better graphics card than the GT1030, but I haven't found one yet... It has to be low-profile and I'll probably have to install a more powerful power supply...

Yesterday I bought my first Wyse C10L! I managed to install Windows 98SE. For sound, I used a generic USB sound card and it worked with the native 98SE drivers, and for video I used the VBE Miniport driver (Standard PCI Graphics Adapter VGA) and now it has better resolution and more than 256 colors. I installed an IDE44 to MSata adapter card, and installed a 64GB MSata SSD and it was detected normally.

To format SSDs and CF & SD cards, I use an old PC, a P4 with IDE+SATA bus, this makes it easier to create partitions with FDISK, in addition to making these tasks faster....
I'm obsessed with Thin Clients...

felixcatx wrote on 2025-11-13, 20:38:

it didn't detect the GT730 on the PCIe expansion bus...

I think you need to explicitly disable integrated GPU for it to work normally.