Digital Signage Hardware – Beware of cheap imitations

When considering a PC to run your digital signage software it is tempting to choose the cheapest consumer PC you can find and assume it will provide the commercial performance and reliability you expect from your digital signage solution.

Unfortunately, just because you choose a cheap PC running Windows it does not make it an optimised digital signage player. A standard windows PC has been manufactured using consumer grade components that are not built for unattended 24/7 use over many years. In addition, consumer PC’s come will a full Windows operating system that includes thousands of software components that are not required for running digital signage and which effect the stability and performance of your player.

Fortunately, there are companies such as our hardware partners Advantech who manufacture and support Industrial grade PC technology specifically designed for digital signage. Advantech PC technology has been optimised for long term unattended use and in many cases for use in hostile environments with dust and very low and very high temperature ranges. Each PC has been developed and tested over a two year period before release and comes with a long term life cycle ensuring availability of the same product for several years after the product lunch.

A great example of an optimised digital signage player is the Advantech ARK-DS303 (shown above) which offers a rugged, fanless PC purpose built for digital signage and shipped preloaded with Signagelive Display Edition onboard and a Windows Embedded operating system with only the components needed to run Signagelive ensuring optimal performance and maximum uptime.

The Advantech ARK-DS303 preloaded with Signagelive is available globally through Advantech and Signagelive distributors and partners. See the table below for a comparison of a consumer PC against an Advantech Industrial PC built for use in digital signage projects.

Advantech Consumer Digital Signage vs Industrial Digital Signage

Whatever PC product you choose to run your digital signage software, make sure you choose based on quality, reliability and overall cost of ownership and not just on the cheapest price you can find online.