Netbook Question! Run DragonNaturally.

Daggit, I can't seem to find the correct group for this. So, I will
throw it in hardware and see what happens.

I am looking to find a the least expensive netbook that is capable of
running Nuance's Dragon NaturallySpeaking. I have seen this knocked
around a bit, but noone giving a definitive answer.

Anyone?
Also, could a program like this run on SSD?


Here are the recommended specs:

* CPU: Intel® Pentium4® / 2.4 GHz (1.6 GHz dual core) or
equivalent AMD processor. (SSE2 instruction set required).
* Memory: 1 GB RAM
* L2 Cache: 1 MB

wrote:
Daggit, I can't seem to find the correct group for this. So, I will
throw it in hardware and see what happens.

I am looking to find a the least expensive netbook that is capable of
running Nuance's Dragon NaturallySpeaking. I have seen this knocked
around a bit, but noone giving a definitive answer.

Anyone?
Also, could a program like this run on SSD?


Here are the recommended specs:

* CPU: Intel® Pentium4® / 2.4 GHz (1.6 GHz dual core) or
equivalent AMD processor. (SSE2 instruction set required).
* Memory: 1 GB RAM
* L2 Cache: 1 MB

There is

comp.speech.users

but I don't know if I'd post there :-)

I can give you a proposed calibration procedure.

1) Acquire a trial version of the software.
2) Use a desktop computer for testing. I have a dual core
for example. The multiplier on my processor can be
changed while in the desktop, between 6x and 13x, for
a core speed between 1.2GHz and 2.6Ghz. Not all desktops
have the same adjustment range.
3) In Device Manager, if you go to the "CPU" entry and
change it from "ACPI Multiprocessor" to "ACPI Uniprocessor",
you can test the program with both cores running, or
only one CPU core running. The "ACPI Uniprocessor" case
would then be an emulation of your netbook.

I see one netbook listed as 1.6GHz, which means on my
current desktop computer, I could emulate the netbook,
and guess as to how well it might perform.

The storage device the program runs from, is only an issue
if the program writes a lot of data to disk. If most of
the grunting, involves CPU and memory, then the fact the
program is stored on an SSD, will not matter. SSDs tend
to have good read performance, but write performance
can vary greatly depending on how the writing is done.

Paul

On Sat, 21 Mar 2009 05:23:26 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

Daggit, I can't seem to find the correct group for this. So, I will
throw it in hardware and see what happens.

I am looking to find a the least expensive netbook that is capable of
running Nuance's Dragon NaturallySpeaking. I have seen this knocked
around a bit, but noone giving a definitive answer.

Anyone?
Also, could a program like this run on SSD?


Here are the recommended specs:

* CPU: Intel® Pentium4® / 2.4 GHz (1.6 GHz dual core) or
equivalent AMD processor. (SSE2 instruction set required).
* Memory: 1 GB RAM
* L2 Cache: 1 MB

The problem with netbooks and this application is their low
performance with the Atom or C7 CPU. You will probably need
to get an ultraportable laptop instead, typically around 12"
screen form-factor, to get a notebook-like device (instead
of touch tablet something-or-other, I really have not kept
up with all the unique newer formats in the market today)
that has at least a Turion X2 or dual core Pentium CPU if
not faster (faster being better with a realtime activity
like speech recognition).

The question becomes one of how much size is important,
minimizing it if it might actually increase costs. Taken to
the extreme, a typical 15.4" screened laptop will be the
least expensive and still having the performance level you
want. Recently 14" models have been dropping to the $400 to
$500 range as well, even 13" coming close to that but 12"
and under still tend to cost closer to $600 if you find a
deal, more if you don't... with thin and light rasing the
price from a fair amount to a lot.

This doesn't consider refurbished products, that would often
be the cheapest way to go, though the low end new products
are sometimes priced so competitively that the small savings
isn't worthwhile. Most of the major manufacturers make a
small or ultraportable laptop so you'll want to consider the
other desirable features beyond Naturally Speaking, how much
those features are worth to you, and how much effort to put
into finding a good sale price.

Somewhere on teh intarwebs Paul wrote:
wrote:
Daggit, I can't seem to find the correct group for this. So, I will
throw it in hardware and see what happens.

I am looking to find a the least expensive netbook that is capable of
running Nuance's Dragon NaturallySpeaking. I have seen this knocked
around a bit, but noone giving a definitive answer.

Anyone?
Also, could a program like this run on SSD?


Here are the recommended specs:

* CPU: Intel® Pentium4® / 2.4 GHz (1.6 GHz dual core) or
equivalent AMD processor. (SSE2 instruction set required).
* Memory: 1 GB RAM
* L2 Cache: 1 MB

There is

comp.speech.users

but I don't know if I'd post there :-)

I can give you a proposed calibration procedure.

1) Acquire a trial version of the software.
2) Use a desktop computer for testing. I have a dual core
for example. The multiplier on my processor can be
changed while in the desktop, between 6x and 13x, for
a core speed between 1.2GHz and 2.6Ghz. Not all desktops
have the same adjustment range.
3) In Device Manager, if you go to the "CPU" entry and
change it from "ACPI Multiprocessor" to "ACPI Uniprocessor",
you can test the program with both cores running, or
only one CPU core running. The "ACPI Uniprocessor" case
would then be an emulation of your netbook.

I see one netbook listed as 1.6GHz, which means on my
current desktop computer, I could emulate the netbook,
and guess as to how well it might perform.

The storage device the program runs from, is only an issue
if the program writes a lot of data to disk. If most of
the grunting, involves CPU and memory, then the fact the
program is stored on an SSD, will not matter. SSDs tend
to have good read performance, but write performance
can vary greatly depending on how the writing is done.

Paul, what you say is only true for CPUs from the same family. Most netbooks
use the Intel Atom CPU which, running clock-for-clock against a Core 2 CPU
is only capable of less than half the MIPs.

IOW Intel Atom @ 1.6GHz is approximately equal to one core of a Core 2 Duo
running at 800MHz. Well below the required specs that the OP posted.

I have benched an Atom at 1.6GHz as having the same processing power as an
old Tualatin Celeron 1.4GHz. There's a reason those netbooks won't run
Vista...

Cheers,
--
Shaun.

"Build a man a fire, and he`ll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and
he`ll be warm for the rest of his life." Terry Pratchett, Jingo.