Hello all, I have seen a couple of threads regarding netbook performance, but I am still looking for further thoughts on whether a netbook (and suggestions for which one) might be appropriate for application. I currently have a system of two instruments that are controlled via Windows using their respective controllers (8110s). These two systems sample at high rates (250 kHz on 10 channels for one and 2.5 MHz on 8 channels for the other) but produce analyzed data at a rate of 1 Hz. For each instrument, I am returning about 100 to 125 double precision variables during the sampling period with the option of also returning large spectra of data. The amount of interaction is relatively minimal as most of the parameters for acquisition are set within the software and the user is generally only monitoring signals for determining the course of experiments. Due to weight limitations, I will be having to using a single laptop to monitor and control the two instruments. And because we are near the limit,literally every ounce is important (hence the netbook). Although I haven't exactly figured out the network topology for this (in addition to the two instruments streaming data to the UI, I will also need to stream several variables from another instrument), I am beginning to think that a reasonable option would be to use a laptop to control the two instruments and collect data (either in RT or using the Windows OS). In either case, I expect the two PXI controllers to do most of the heavy lifting in terms of the analysis while the host computer will be strictly collecting and displaying data. Does anyone have any thoughts on this, particullarly whether this is a reasonable use of netbooks or if there might be a better solution? Any ideas would be helpful. Peace, Matt Message Edited by mtat76 on 02-04-2010 02:16 PM

I have one of the older ASUS EEEpc's (1000h), which shipped with a version of XP Home. However, I've run XP Pro, Vista Home Premium, and the Windows 7 RC on this laptop without issue. Typical specs on a netbook (last I checked) are a ~1.6GHz dual core Intel Atom CPU and typically 1gb of RAM. If you're limiting the processing load on the netbook it probably won't have an issue handling what you throw at it. You could speed things up by adding more (and faster or higher quality) RAM, turning off the OS eyecandy in Windows Vista/7, disabling unused hardware (bluetooth, wifi, etc), and by using a solid-state HD... Once you've identified a likely candidate netbook, you might google search for benchmarks/reviews (Newegg and Amazon usually have decent user reviews, Toms Hardware and other tech sites may have more official reviews/benchmarks). Graphics processing is usually where these laptops struggle, but all-in-all they are surprisingly capable machines. Good luck!

LabVIEW

Netbook suggestions?

Solved!

Be careful about the Atm processor and the graphics chip. If you have a dual core Atom, odds are high you got the atom 330 which will support 64 bits. But note, if you use4 the 4150 graphics chip, you are limited to 2 Gbytes. If you use, say teh Nvidia Ion you can go to 4 Gbytes.