Hi,
I have at times thought about a Pi, we have used one at work to do logging and nice realtime graph display as a steel wheel was pressed onto an axle. (Talking railway wheel and axle)
We had a mate of my boss do the programming (linux expert) as time was of the essence.
The minicomp that did the job literally blew up because of its industrial environment and filter not fitted to vent fan.
The job was optioned up to Wifi so the need for USB Stick to transfer data was not needed.
All inside a new vented case with just some buttons and industrial keyboard on the outside.
Very easy to mechanically assemble compared to trying to get an over powered laptop to do the job.
If I was going to do a job that needed high end Display, then definitely a Pi, possibly a Arduino to do the I/O interface and monitoring.
Tom.. 