POS Computers are specially designed for retail, restaurant, or hospitality use. This means they come with hardware that will last longer than off-the-shelf PCs while maintaining solid performance. They're designed with one or two concurrent tasks in mind, such as running POS software along with card processing software. POS computers also usually come equipped with multiple USB ports, so you can be sure all your peripherals are able to operate at the same time. Legacy ports (parallel, serial) are available as well, allowing you to incorporate older, still functional hardware at your installation.
Generally, we have found that, unless you have a back office server PC running as your POS software server, your first POS station will need to be more powerful. This could mean spending a little more for a dual core processor and more RAM, but in the long run you will have a much better experience. Additional stations can be less powerful, as they'll reference the data on your first station.
Fanless POS Computers
Restaurants, bars, and bakeries can be messy environments, and so a sealed POS computer is a smart option. These computers sacrifice some performance in exchange for cooler operation and the ability to hold up to particulate matter that would gum up fans and cause overheating and premature failure. The POS-X EVO-TP4 is a premier fanless all-in-one and has been a staple of our restaurant POS Systems for many years.
Server POS Computers
Some software requires more powerful computing, especially for secondary functionality such as credit card processing or serving the POS software database. For these situations, we recommend the more powerful POS computers, such as the POS-X EVO-TP4 Pro or Elo 15B1. Generally built with multi-core processors and more RAM, these units can handle more than a standard checkstation computer.
POS Computers with Integrated Printers
These units are designed to save space at your business, and tend to operate best as order stations, secondary stations, or even as informational kiosks. Some, such as the PosiFlex XP3315, are an all-in-one PC with integrated printer. Other models, like the newer Epson OmniLink TM-T88V-D, are a receipt printer with integrated PC in the base of the unit. While these are great, space saving designs, you do lose greater functionality if a portion of the hardware fails.
Adding a POS computer or POS system to your business can be tricky. If you have a bar, restaurant, or salon, we recommend investing in a server PC that can stay in a back office area. These environments tend to be messy, and so having your critical data stored somewhere safe can keep you running even if an order station stops operating. If you have questions about what POS computer is right for you, please give us a call at 1-800-903-6571.