HP Elite T755 Thin Client Review

The HP Elite T755 Thin Client is the successor to the T740 Thin Client released in 2019. This is what you might use if you are running VDI or virtual desktop infrastructure or DaaS, Desktop as a Service, through a back-end server or even one located in a data center or the cloud. It’s really cute! It’s about the size of a waffle iron. Tragic that it can’t produce waffles too. 

The HP Elite T755 Thin Client looks very similar to the tiny Z2 G9 Mini Workstation. At least in size only. The way it works is significantly different. A thin client gets a large part of its compute and storage through a remote server. Well, maybe not remote, it could be in your back room. It’s used in conjunction with applications like VMware and Citrix.

If you’re using it for edge applications, maybe your edge server is in the next room over and you and your buddies each have a thin client like this instead of a standalone desktop PC or workstation. Each of you are using a portion of the compute, maybe even GPU memory, and storage from that server which is then accessed through our little Elite T755. These were also quite popular when everyone was working from home. 

The next question is “Why would you want a thin client instead of a dedicated PC or workstation?”  We’ll give you three reasons: significant cost advantages, easy maintenance, and enhanced security by centralizing the data in a secure server room instead of in a more easily accessible PC. Oh, and energy efficiency. That makes 4x reasons, but you got the bonus plan with that last point.

There is a zero client too but that one relies a lot more on the compute, memory and storage provided by the centralized server, whereas our thin client has a limited or thin compliment of resources to draw on for local tasks. It’s ideal for those that need more powerful resources and the ability to run multiple monitors.  

On the front of the system the power ON button, 2x USB-A 3.2 Gen1 ports offering 5Gb/s data transfer rates, a USB type-C port at 10Gb/s, audio out headphones jack, and Activity LED.

On the back, a lot more ports. Especially if you get the optional Radeon RX 6300 GPU offering 2GB VRAM.

That optional GPU would go in that cut out on the left for a PCIe card. It could also be used to install other options like a NIC with more ports or faster data transfer rates, which could be quite handy if you want to reduce lag from a slow network connection. 

The reason we have this system is for testing the installation of a NIC specifically from Intel with 2x RJ45 ports. Happy to say HP graciously provided this little unit to test if the card would actually fit as we could not get a comprehensive answer. Those two RJ45 ports deliver a 4-lane slot width and 5GT/s in support of Intel Virtualization Technology for Connectivity. In other words, this card is designed to support your virtualization needs. Spoiler alert! It did fit!  

The other cut out panel can be used for additional options like a serial port, external Wi-Fi antennae, or audio headset. Right next to the smaller cut out in the middle, are 2x USB-A 3.2 Gen1 ports, again offering a 5Gb/s data transfer rate and then 2x more USB-A 2.0 ports, with high-speed USB at about 480Mb/s. Not quite as high-speed as the other 2x. Oh, and one more thing, this system was available for purchase in January of 2024 so, yes, a new and improved version—probably on the way. This is May maybe even June of 2025.

Now, the other ports on the back of the system. There is a latch on the far left, and we’ll get to that. Beside that, a security cable slot, a power connector, an RJ-45 port for basic network communications with a 1Gb/s data transfer rate. Next 4x DisplayPort 1.4 connectors for attaching up to 4x monitors via the Radeon GPU graphic accelerators integrated with the CPU. Powering this unit is a 90W external power adapter.

On the bottom of the chassis is a removeable panel that can be outfitted with a VESA Quick Release mounting bracket to place the system to the wall, ceiling, underside of your desk or a swing arm. Even the back of an HP monitor using another special bracket. Our unit also came with a small stand for mounting on the bottom of the unit or on the side. It looks like it’s smiling at us… In a nutshell, you have options as this is meant to be very unobtrusive. That small lever is to remove the back panel, which in turn allows us to remove the top panel with a small internal button right in the middle at the top to expose the guts.

An Accelerated Processing Unit or APU includes a CPU for computing along with a GPU for graphics processing on the same chip. In this case, there is an AMD Ryzen V2546 processor under a small blower heat sink featuring 6x physical cores and 12 virtual threads.

Those are Zen 2 cores, plus Radeon Graphics, which can power up to 4x independent 4K monitors at 60Hz using that row of DisplayPort connectors on the back. It also provides 20 PCIe Gen3 lanes. An upgrade to this little unit is the addition of an AMD Radeon RX6300 GPU with 2GB VRAM. It uses a PCIe 4.0 x4 interface. We’ve seen threads on Reddit questioning the need for its existence given an NPU can provide the necessary graphics processing to enable a few monitors. In this case, that RX6300 would provide 2x more display ports for enabling up to 6x monitors total using 1x HDMI 2.1 port and a DisplayPort. 

There are a bunch of specific SKUs available even for this tiny unit. This specific configuration is the HP Elite T755 Thin Client 9S4T6UT#ABA. That’s with one “B” as we’re not talking about that Swedish pop group. MSRP is listed at about $950. It has 8GB of DDR4 SODIMM memory with 2x 4GB modules running at up to 3200MHz. It can be outfitted with up to 32GB of memory with 2x 16GB SODIMMs. The operating system is Windows 10 IoT Enterprise. Yes, regular Windows 10 support is ending this year in 2025 but the IoT version will be supported until January of 2032 and that’s with 10 years of service and support. Anyways, no optional GPU in this system. The lone PCIe slot features a PCIe x16 slot length with x8 link. 

Of the 2x M.2 slots, one supports up to 256GB NVMe and the other up to 512GB. That first one will also support 32GB or 64GB eMMC modules. eMMC stands for Embedded Multimedia Card and is typically found on mobile computing devices, tablets, smartphones, maybe your Kindle. It features NAND flash memory but a little slower than SSDs. Ours has a 2230 form factor 64GB eMMC module for local storage. It also comes with a wired keyboard and wired mouse.

Total weight, about 3 pounds, which we will say is probably less than a waffle maker. 

And there you have it! Don’t confuse the HP Elite T755 with a Zero Client like the HP TZ655 Trusted Zero Client. This definitely has some processing power, memory and storage locally for performing minor functions. But it is still designed to access the resources of a more powerful back-end server that might have high-performance CPUs, GPUs, plus much more storage and memory.  If you’re looking for more information on this system, or any other system, visit our website!