Suggestions for low power XP compatible machines or netbooks

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valis
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Suggestions for low power XP compatible machines or netbooks

Post by valis »

I use a tool called PG-AM ( Pinguin Audio Meter ) which is fed the extra 2 track outputs from the mix bus on my analog mixer. PG-AM runs best under Win XP's GDI+, but under anything from Win8 on it's about 1/4 second lagged due to the compatibility layers for translating GDI+ to Aero/Metro/etc and triple buffering + output buffering...

I currently run it on an ancient HP ze410 laptop that dates back to 2003 or 2004, but we've hit a point with computing where I know we have options for replacing this with something that consumes a fraction of the power that it uses (plus hearing its fans spin up all the time is super annoying).

So, a netbook would be one option, as the integrated screen would make swapping it out for this install a doddle, but I am by no means limiting myself to that. What I do want is hardware support for WinXP and low power usage, and just enough cpu power to meet or exceed the specs of the celeron in that HP laptop above (which also had a mobility radeon, but anything that will handle 2d/3d accel under WinXP and thus full acceleration for GDI+ is all that is needed).

Thoughts? It's very hard to find info on the first few generations of netbooks that guarantee XP support this late in the game, so I'm turning to you knowledgeable folk for some input. :)
cortone
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Re: Suggestions for low power XP compatible machines or netb

Post by cortone »

Don't have a suggestion regarding a machine, but have you experimented with the compability settings, maybe at the point of installing it? (Right-click/Properties/Compatibility)? Apologies if it's an obvious suggestion, and likely not a fix, but it may be worth a try for only a few minutes of effort.
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valis
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Re: Suggestions for low power XP compatible machines or netb

Post by valis »

Doesn’t help, disabling desktop composition will but I’ll find a very low power solution that supports do natively.
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garyb
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Re: Suggestions for low power XP compatible machines or netb

Post by garyb »

desktop. i just got an hp xw4600 for $69.
what you need should be almost free. if it's too loud, put it somewhere else with a long vga cable.
petal
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Re: Suggestions for low power XP compatible machines or netb

Post by petal »

Maybe an IBM Thinkpad - they were considered high quality then.

Perhaps one of these will do:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R ... 5573.m1684
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valis
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Re: Suggestions for low power XP compatible machines or netb

Post by valis »

I really want an Atom or low power Pentium (Current celeron branding), with basic onboard graphics or a low power 3rd party GPU chip. I'll do some research this weekend & report back :)
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braincell
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Re: Suggestions for low power XP compatible machines or netb

Post by braincell »

Get a Nook.
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