Necessary to Buy A Laptop with VXDIAG VCX NANO?

Question: 

I am specifically looking for a scanner that will do gauge sweeps on the instrument cluster.  Other than the Tech II, what other bi-directional scanners work well with our GMs?

I have seen a Youtube video of an Autel MS906BT doing exactly what I want, but $1000 is kinda steep.

I am looking for something in the $500 +/- range.

Grateful for any recommendations.

GM user feedback: 

I have a vxdiag vcx nano for gm and can confirm it works great. Software was a pain to setup, found out what I was given required 32bit windows for some reason. It will do anything a tech 2 can do. ABS bleeding, BCM and ECU programming.

Many people feel pain to setup GDS2/tech2win software. So it is necessary to get a vcx nano with a laptop and software pre-installed?

Look at what people saying:

look on vxdiag shop for the vxdiag nano if you buy that and have a tablet it works as a tech2win (software based tech2), the vxdiagshop also sells some interesting stuff and you can buy a older t440 lenovo or x220 laptop on ebay for $200 or less and then buy the $200 hard drive from vxdiag and have all kinds of automotive software it’s plug-n-play, they sell it with a laptop, better deal to get the laptop and then the hard drive and I guess the vxdiag. I have the vxdiag and a tablet works fine for tech2win. I got gds2 to run I just have to fix a bug in it still, If I get the laptop and hard drive it wont have the bug’s I have ran into with gds2 on the tablet.
interesting stuff and cheaper than spending $1000+ on a bosch.