A
thin client is a lightweight
computer that is purpose built for remoting into a server (typically
desktop virtualization resources). It depends heavily on another computer (its
server) to fulfill its computational roles. This is different from the traditional desktop PC (fat client), which is a computer designed to take on these roles by itself. The specific roles assumed by the server may vary, from hosting a shared set of virtualized applications, a shared desktop stack or virtual desktop, to data processing and file storage on the client or users behalf.