Traditionally a computer user has had to choose between an inexpensive "dumb' terminal and a relatively expensive PC-based workstation. The former usually costs $500 or less, while the latter rarely costs less than $1,250. Over the past few months a third type of peripheral device has become available: the diskless workstation. It is a display device which has been characterized as the smartest of the terminals and the dumbest of the personal computers. It is a desktop device with the memory and processing features of a PC, but with no storage device or additional card slots. The typical diskless workstation has 640KB of RAM and up to 2MB of ROM, thus permitting it to be programmed and to store small quantities of data. The device usually costs under $800, thus offering attractive price/ performance.
https://librarytechnology.org/document/4505/