eric,
Don't understand the reason for this preference. You mention the INV gain but there is no INV gain. It's a NI amp with a gain of 1/2 input attenuator. This means the op amp has to operate at a higher gain to achieve a given I/O gain which increases the effect of input offset and reduces the bandwidth. Also the input attenuator reduces the input impedance.
So I don't see any upside to adding the input attenuator which requires two additional components.