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Thanks guys - I was not on a power trip! This machine is only for data acquisition - processing is done elsewhere - I have tech coming out of my ears at home. So I was thinking small, simple and cheap - that is in the $500ish range.
So required features are - lots of usb ports - decent screen size - and Windows 32 bit option for the sake of compatibility.
Was thinking netbook 12" might suffice - Asus 1215B looked ok but could not find one in Sydney - HP Minibook - good but only 64 bit windows (on a netbook with 2Gb??!!), next stop Sony mini - sorry can't sell you the display machine (thanks JB ended up with a better deal!).
It turns out you end up with Toshiba or Toshiba if you want the option of 32 bit windoze, all other manufacturers have standardised on 64 bit. I just did not want to risk it given the reason I need this machine is because of driver conflict issues and no-one was will to take a return if 64 failed (I asked).
So now I have a Tosh 750 i7 - which is more than I wanted but it has USB3, lots of grunt, and can run 32 or 64 bit. Great.
Of course I have had to re-install the o/s. And man do they put a lot of crapware on these machines, and some nasty power saving options that can, and do, screw up wireless networking, sheesh. Just about through all that now....CCD bench test working ok...full system test tonight I hope.
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