Difference between MSO & LA with scope

[JoeBean]

Hi,
Probably a simple and/or dumb question, but what, if anything, is the difference between a mixed signal oscilloscope and a logic analyzer with a built in oscilloscope?   I missed out on a fairly new Agilent MSO for a good price a little while ago, and since then I've seen some Agilent 16xx series LA come up on ebay for cheap and I was just wondering why 2 seemingly similar creatures would have different names.

[mikeselectricstuff]

Mostly marketing. The old 16xx HP's were basicallys LA's with scope add-on options, so the user-interface is likely to be more LA-like than a scope - a lot of the old HP scopes had poor user interfaces generally. The MSO name appeared when HP launched the 54645D which was a scope with digital channels and wanted a buzzword to distinguish it. 

[Alex]

I would also suspect that the function that is mentioned second is slimmed down.

An MSO will be a better scope than a its logic analyser in the same way there is more pasta in 'pasta with sauce'. lol

[JoeBean]

OK, that history helps make sense of it. Thanks.

An MSO will be a better scope than a logic analyser in the same way there is more pasta in 'pasta with sauce'. lol

Isn't that always how it is?  Just like Mixed Nuts With [insert expensive nuts] are always 99% peanuts with 2 of the other nuts broke up and hiding in the bottom.  Anyway, didn't mean to get off topic...