With no moving parts (no fans or spinning hard drives) and a simplified electrical architecture, Zero Clients have a longer lifespan than traditional PCs. They generate less heat and consume significantly less power—often as little as 5 to 15 watts compared to 150+ watts for a desktop.

Historically, "Zero Clients" were most closely associated with the protocol (used by VMware Horizon) or Blast . These protocols are often hardware-accelerated, meaning dedicated chips on the client motherboard handle the decoding.

Because there is no local OS to manage, the attack surface is drastically reduced. Malware that targets Windows or Linux OSs simply has nowhere to execute on a true Zero Client.

| Feature | Zero Client (RDP) | Thin Client (Windows 10 IoT) | PC/Laptop | |---------|------------------|------------------------------|------------| | Local OS | None (firmware) | Lightweight Windows/Linux | Full OS | | Boot time | 2–5 seconds | 15–40 seconds | 30+ seconds | | Attack surface | Minimal | Moderate | High | | Management | Web console | Group Policy / MDM | SCCM / Intune | | Cost (hardware) | $150–300 | $300–600 | $600–1500 | | Lifespan | 7–10 years | 4–6 years | 3–5 years |