CPU power

[Viller]

Hi

I'm about to purchase a laptop for running a "labview control system" I have a Compact daq with several modules. My question is now how "big" should the laptop be?? Im not using labview realtime but it is rather critical that the labview program doesnt stall or anything like that!

[LV_Pro]

How critical is it that the system "not stall"? You can have two issues here, whether the program is "hardware bound" where there isn't enough memory/processor power and whether the operating system is prone to doing other things that impact your program's operation. WIth the first part buying a little more memory is the biggest immediate improvement. Then carefully designing the program to minimize performance impacting constructs (not preallocating arrays is a big one) is the next step. Unfortunately, with the operating system, there isn't much you can do. For instance if an operator, for what ever reason, moves the mouse rapidly your program's execution may slow or almost stop.  So the bottom line is, buy more computer than you think you need, particularly more than the minimum memory that NI says is needed, then be careful in the program's design. If it is a critical system then really consider going to one of the RT options, removing the O/S issue from the table.