Sub-$1300 All-In-One POS Terminals Product Review - Table Of Contents
By The Business Solutions Network
Testing by Greg Nelson, VP and CTO, Gware POS
A VAR evaluates 7 sub-$1,300 all-in-one POS terminals and shares the pros and cons of each.
Last year, one of our most popular articles was a product review of all-in-one touch terminals. For that review, we worked with Greg Nelson, CTO of VAR and ISV GWare, who tested seven different units. To level our playing field, we asked each vendor for a unit that met a certain spec we wanted as a baseline. Price was not a consideration. Nelson conducted a series of tests and, in the end, we discussed the highs and lows of all the units reviewed.
This year, we wanted to do something a little different. Specifically, we received feedback from readers that, while they enjoyed reading about powerful machines going head-to-head, they often get asked by customers for low-priced options. Therefore, this time we asked each manufacturer to send us its best (highest spec) unit that was under $1,300 dealer cost. We didn’t care so much about the other specs. In the end, we were going to see who provides the most bang for the buck.
Interestingly, some manufacturers opted to skip this review, because they claimed to not sell on price. Some didn’t have a unit at that price point. Fair enough. Others followed our instructions and sent us a $1,300 unit. And some sent us very affordable units. How affordable? One of the units tested is almost half the cost of the $1,300 max. In the end, we received units from Touch Dynamic, GenPOS, Aures/J2, NEC, POSBank, and Pioneer POS. Oh, and we also included a Harbortouch unit to see how the “free” POS variety stacks up. Take a look at the accompanying chart for the specs of each.
We once again partnered with Nelson to conduct our testing. Last year, Nelson wrote a custom application he could run on each unit to stress the processor of each. He conducted tests on the touch screen sensitivity. He commented on the fit and finish of each and the ability (or lack thereof) of each unit to be serviced in the field. He commented on the software and configuration of each unit. Finally, he even made some tweaks and recommendations. He did the same for this review.
-- Click Here To Read The Side-By-Side Product Comparison Article --
Individual BDR Product Reviews
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Aures Group / J2 Retail Systems - Sango The Aures unit shipped with a good old-fashioned SATA drive, while some of the others had SSD. The result? The SSD units booted very quickly, but beyond that, there were no performance improvements. Until ISVs code to take advantage of SSD memory, there’s not much value. |
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The GenPOS unit tied for the second-fastest (with NEC) we tested due in part to having one of the best processors and more memory than the others (4 GB). It came in at $1,269. It was the easiest unit to work on, according to Nelson. |
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Some of the units shipped with good old-fashioned SATA drives, while the others, including Harbortouch, had SSD. The result? The SSD units booted very quickly, but beyond that, there were no performance improvements. Until ISVs code to take advantage of SSD memory, there’s not much value. |
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Nelson found the GenPOS and NEC (once he figured out its unique levers and latches) units the easiest to access for repairs. As far as fit and finish are concerned, Nelson had his favorites and some he was less than fond of. Nelson thought the NEC unit had the most impressive display when it comes to resolution and color presentation. However, he did question the necessity of having such a great display on a POS unit. |
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Pioneer POS - StealthTouch S-Line The first step in our review was to test the processors/performance of the units. Nelson installed his custom application that read and wrote large chunks of data to an SQL database. The goal was to monitor the processor and network utilization and see how quickly each could complete the test. The Pioneer POS unit was the fastest tested, coming in at 49 seconds. |
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Nelson found the POSBank unit built in a way to allow service to the terminal in the field. That wasn’t the case for all the units tested. As far as fit and finish are concerned, Nelson had his favorites and some he was less than fond of. On the POSBank unit, he loved the front panel LEDs that show network, hard drive, and power activity. It’s a simple thing, but being in tech support, it’s nice to be able to ask a troubled customer if the middle green light is flashing. |
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Touch Dynamic - Breeze Performance Nelson found that the Touch Dynamic unit was built in a way to allow servicing in the field. Some of the units tested were not built in such a way. In addition, the Touch Dynamic Breeze was one of the best performers in our speed and performance tests and an all-around good unit. |
