POS Computer Basics
By: POSGuys - 3/6/2018

Our newest video from Ask POSGuys shows you how to select the best POS computer for your needs. Whether your business is a restaurant, retail, a food truck or something in between, we go over the features to look for when making this important purchase for your business.

Transcript:

Hi, this is Travis from POSGuys.com.

Today we're going over our buyer's guide for all-in-one [point of sales computers][1].

There are several different types and there are different features that make it great for one business and no so great for another. So, we're going to go through the main things to look for when looking at a point of sale computer.

Step one in the process is to identify what [software][2] you are going to be running. If you are going to be running a retail software and it stretches out to full-screen, then normally a widescreen layout works really well because it gives you more room to see details on the items.

So, this is [Cash Register Express][3], and you can see that, when you add an item to the order, you can see the part number, you can see the item description and they have quantity and price. There are a lot of details that you need to know about an item when you add it to the order. Versus, if you look at restaurant software, what you are going to want is a friendly grid and, in most cases, a square, four by three type of screen resolution is generally what you have.

[Aldelo][4], our most popular restaurant software, uses an older, 800 by 600 resolution, so you really have to zoom in tight if you want to go full screen.  If you try to put a square shaped software on a rectangle, then you have wasted space. Conversely, if you take a rectangle shaped software and put it on a square then you are also wasting space. So, get the screen resolution and aspect ratio that matches your software.

When looking at a restaurant software, typically you're looking at a four by three screen. So, its shaped to fit as many buttons as it can in, kind of on one side, and then normally you'll see an item grid on the other side.

With a touchscreen monitor, and a restaurant, you need it to be very stable, versus retail where you are going to be adding items to the order with a barcode scanner, you're going to be touching everything on a touchscreen monitor. So, you want it to be very stable. You look at the base, and how it mounts, it's very strong. There is very little wobble. If you compare this to kind of a home touch screen, where it's designed to look pretty, they're usually wider and the bases are much skinnier, and therefore, when you touch it, it wobbles. With extensive usage, it can actually make you kind of dizzy. So, having a very sturdy base is very important.

Additionally, you want it to be somewhat spillproof. So, this has an IP rating on it and it is kind of splashproof, so that if you had to get it wet, you can wipe it down and you are OK.

There are also different types of touchscreens. If you're going to be using pens or you're going to want to wear gloves, then you're going to want a resistive touchscreen where the screen actually flexes a little, and that's how it determines where the cursor is. If you want a prettier screen that looks nicer and has kind of more vibrant colors on it, then a P-CAP capacitive screen will work better.

Processor-wise, when you are looking at a computer for a restaurant, you want it to be somewhat powerful, and i3 or above is generally recommended. You'll see a lot of J1900's available, but they tend to be underpowered for restaurant usage. The reason is that there is actually a lot of graphics going on. Everytime you change to a different menu, it has to redraw the screen, and if you're trying to go really, really fast and add items rapidly, then you need it to draw as fast as possible. A lot of fancier softwares have kind of drop shadow effects to the buttons or they are even multi-touch where you can swipe up and down and screens will slide. In order to be very, very responsive and quick, you need a good processor for that. So definitely look for an i3 or above. Your software manufacturer will have minimum specs on their website. Make sure that you get a processor that meets that minimum spec. Additionally,  an SSD and more RAM will make it kind of a speedier experience, and more responsive. So, getting above 4 gigabytes of RAM, I wouldn't go below four gigabytes. And, then a 60 gigabyte SSD is a good place to start.

When looking at all-in-one computers, for retail, widescreen resolutions typically work great. You have the bigger grid that shows more item information. Additionally, there's a couple other things to look at with retail computers. You do want a good touchscreen that doesn't wobble a lot on it. But, you also have more requirements in regards to integrated peripherals.

This is a [TP5][5] and it has a built-in receipt printer. the paper releases right here. It opens up, so it's kind of a space-saving feature, with a regular three inch printer built into the base of it. You also have a built in card reader, and you have USB port right in front. So, if you want to attach a [barcode scanne][6]r, you can plug it in right there. There are, of course, many ports in the back. We'll take a look at those. You need a lot of USB ports on a retail point of sale computer. In addition to the barcode scanner, you also need USB ports for the [keyboard][7] and mouse, if you want keyboard and mice. If you are using a [scale][8], then you'll need a serial port.

So, usually serial ports are now are kind of expansion ports, where you'll have the nine-pin connection on the bottom and then you plug it into the expansion port on the back. So, it looks something like an Ethernet cable here and then it plugs in down below. And then you have serial port. You'll need a wired connection and there's also a cash drawer port for attaching the cash drawer. So, usually, you want at least four USB ports, a serial port, a [cash drawer][9] port. If you have an integrated printer, if you have an external [printer][10], then you need a USB port for that printer on it as well. So, the more ports the better when looking at retail. There are a lot of accessories that you need to plug in.

Typically with retail, your point of sales computer will be sitting on top of a cash drawer. So, that space isn't quite as big of a concern as in restaurant where you are going to want to roll wall mounted as much, so smaller is better. Processor-wise, i3 or better is always recommended, but if you want to go with a J1900 and a fanless configuration, it works a little better for retail where it's a little less graphically intensive. It's driven through keystrokes or through a barcode scanner, so instead of having to draw many screens that have a lot of buttons on it, you can just add to a single grid using a barcode scanner. So, you can get away with a slightly less powerful computer. Of course, check with your software manufacturer and see what the minimum  specs are for that point of sale software.

[Tablets][11] have also become popular for point of sale. There are a couple of things to keep in mind when buying a tablet. If you buy a consumer-grade tablet and you are going to use it in your business, typically they are designed for consumer-type activities, where your'e going to be browsing the internet, you're going to be playing games and such. You don't have to hook up accessories, like receipt printers, barcode scanners, keyboards, things like that, so, typically there are no ports on a consumer tablet and therefore, adding any kind of accessory is a little harder or a little more expensive because you have to go with the bluetooth version rather than a UBS version.

Additionally, there's not great charging bases for them. So, this is actually a charging base. This is a [Zebra tablet][12], it comes in both a Windows and Android version. If you want to release it, then you can pull your tablet out and then you are in tablet mode. This tablet was built for businesses and there is actually a full-size USB port here, right on the side. So, if you need it to plug a printer or a barcode scanner into the tablet itself, you can. The base also expands. It has USB ports. So, there are three USB ports in the base, if you wanted to do a wired connection you can do it through that and then it even has an HDMI expansion port on the bottom.

Also, the battery on it is replaceable, unlike most consumer-level mobile computers or tablets where you can't switch out the battery. This one, you can switch out the battery and the battery itself even has a meter on it to tell you how much of a charge that the battery has. So, there's a little meter there to tell you about the battery. So, if you want to have multiple batteries for your tablet, you can do that, if you have one purpose built for point of sale. If you are using your home tablet, it doesn't necessarily have those kind of features.

The other thing to keep in mind, when it comes to tablet use is the power of the processor on it. Tablets tend to be lower-powered processors that are good for extending battery life but they're not necessarily the most powerful processors in the world. So, trying to run restaurant software that's designed to work on an i3 processor using an ARM type of processor can definitely be a struggle on it. If you're software is web-based then usually that's a pretty good match, since tablets run browsers pretty quickly, so that might work good for your situation. But, of course, check with your software manufacturer and make sure that they know you will be running the software on a tablet and that it will work with their software.

When looking at a point of sale computer for your business, make sure that you get the POS computer that matches your business's needs. Widescreen typically for retail, four by three typically for restaurants. Also, if you are going to be wall-mounting your computer, because you are going to be taking orders in a hallway or something like that, make sure that the computer that you are looking for can be wall-mounted. Sometimes you have to buy extra brackets, sometimes it comes with the brackets, sometimes the base can convert into a wall mount hanging. But, definitely take a look to make sure that there is a VESA mounting option or that the base can be hung on the wall as well. And then, make sure that you get one powerful enough to run the point of sale software that you are looking for.

For more information on point of sale computers, or to speak with an expert, please visit us at POSGuys.com.

Thanks

[1]: https://posguys.com/pos-computer_42/
  [2]: https://posguys.com/point-of-sale-software_35/
  [3]: https://posguys.com/point-of-sale-software_35/PC-America-Cash-Register-Express_1047/
  [4]: https://posguys.com/point-of-sale-software_35/Aldelo-Software_1320/
  [5]: https://posguys.com/pos-computer_42/POS-X-Ion-TP5-Pro_2587/
  [6]: https://posguys.com/barcode-reader-scanner_3/
  [7]: https://posguys.com/point-of-sale-keyboard_33/
  [8]: https://posguys.com/scales_50/
  [9]: https://posguys.com/cash-drawer_32/
  [10]: https://posguys.com/receipt-pos-printer_12/
  [11]: https://posguys.com/tablets_65/
  [12]: https://posguys.com/tablets_65/Zebra-ET50-55_2455/

POS Computer Basics By: POSGuys - 3/6/2018

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POS Computer Basics
By: POSGuys - 3/6/2018