All-In-One POS Terminal Product Reviews - Table Of Contents
Article by Mike Monocello, editor-in-chief
Testing by Greg Nelson, VP and CTO, Genesis POS
A VAR (Value Added Reseller) evaluates 10 all-in-one (AIO) Point of Sale (POS) terminals and shares the pros and cons of each.
When it comes to retail, restaurant, and grocery IT, no system is as crucial as the point of sale. While margins have eroded over the years, and there’s been outside pressure from tablets and similar mobile technologies, the timetested POS continues to stand as the primary customer payment and interaction device. With that importance in mind, Business Solutions teamed with Greg Nelson, VP and CTO of Genesis POS, to test 10 all-in-one units from a variety of leading manufacturers. The goal: to arm you with the information you need to either confirm your existing product line or shorten your time of evaluating new products. The teriminals being tested included offerings from: Aures Technologies, Bematech, HP, J2 Retail, NCR, Panasonic, PartnerTech, PioneerPOS, Posilfex, and Touch Dynamic.
Utilizing our recent Best Channel Vendors survey results, we re-sorted the data to determine which manufacturers had the highest product-related scores in the survey. As a result, we had a field of 13 manufacturers with scores we felt were high enough for consideration. Among those companies, PAR Technology, Elo, and ToshibaTEC declined to participate in this round of testing. Of those willing to participate, we used input from readers and Nelson to establish our baseline target specs for the test units, which we felt represented a typical regular-duty terminal. We asked manufacturers to provide Nelson with their model that had (as closely as possible) a 1.8 GHz Intel Dual Core Atom Processor, 2 GB RAM, a mechanical hard drive, and POS Ready 9 as the OS.
Click Here To Read The Testing Methodology
-- Click Here To Read The Side-By-Side Product Comparison Article --
Click here for a list of tweaks Nelson recommends for optimizing a POS system
Individual POS Product Reviews
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Aures Technologies W-Touch, Ultra-Slim ePOS Review As far as the Aures W-Touch Ultra-Slim ePOS was concerned, the unit came in as the second fastest among those tested. This is due primarily to the Intel D525 1.8 Ghz Dual Core processor with 2GB of memory. CPU utilization only reached 25% during the test. |
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As your needs differ from those of other VARs, it’s not really possible to declare a winner regarding serviceability of the units. However, Nelson felt strongly enough about Bematech’s overall design to remark that they were one of three manufacturers that should “take a bow” for making the lives of VARs easier when it comes to onsite repairs. |
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Apart from touch tests, there were some additional screen-related notes to share. For instance, Nelson absolutely gushed over the screen quality of the HP unit. In the end, we asked Nelson to choose his top picks for many of the verticals VARs sell into today. In high volume retail, where IT controls the spend, and longevity and build quality wins over cost, he made the HP one of his two picks (NCR being the other). |
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The J2 unit was “perfect” in the VAR’s touch tests. Apart from those tests, Nelson absolutely gushed over the screen quality on the J2 unit, although he was puzzled over its widescreen 1368 x 768 format since most software isn’t written for such a resolution. We asked Nelson to choose his top picks for many of the verticals VARs sell into today. He felt the J2 unit was one he’d recommend for the Salon vertical due to its cost and style points. |
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The NCR unit ended the SQL speed test in 94 seconds, placing it as the fastest unit tested among the 11. During the testing, the CPU hit 47% utilization. In the end, we asked Nelson to choose his top picks for many of the verticals VARs sell into today. In high volume retail, where IT controls the spend, and longevity and build quality wins over cost, he made the NCR one of his two picks (HP being the other). |
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Panasonic Stingray Envo (JS-960) Review As far the Stingray was concerned, the unit came in as one of the fastest among those tested, finishing the speed test in 99 seconds. CPU utilization reached 48% during the test. We asked Nelson to choose his top picks for many of the verticals VARs sell into today. He felt the Stingray unit was one of two units he’d recommend for the large grocery ($8 million plus) vertical where the long haul is important, as well as for the small and large restaurant spaces. |
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Note that despite our efforts to get units with 2 GB of memory installed, the PartnerTech came with just 1 GB. To see how big a factor memory was in the testing, Nelson added memory to the unit and removed memory from others. He found that in some cases the extra gigabyte of memory yielded a 50% increase in speed. |
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PioneerPOS StealthTouch-M5 Review Nelson pointed to the great packaging of the PioneerPOS unit. While not a factor in the build and performance of an all-in-one test, he felt strongly enough to mention it as something above and beyond the competition and something most VARs who receive, ship, and transport terminals would appreciate. |
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As your needs differ from those of other VARs, it’s not really possible to declare a winner regarding serviceability of the units. However, Nelson felt strongly enough about Posiflex’s overall design to remark that they were one of three manufacturers that should “take a bow” for making the lives of VARs easier when it comes to onsite repairs. |
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Touch Dynamic Breeze All-In-One Review The Breeze, Nelson felt, could be serviced onsite with no difficulty. In fact, Nelson felt strongly enough about Touch Dynamic’s overall design to remark that they were one of three manufacturers that should “take a bow” for making the lives of VARs easier when it comes to onsite repairs. |
