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Computer just crapped out today so I'm looking to buy a new laptop just for trading. Mostly will be using it at home, but will take it to work sometimes too. Needs a large monitor and must be able to hook up an additional 34" monitor. I need something fast for scalping. Needs to be able to handle Jigsaw and QTrader at the same time along with screen recording software. Do I need 16 GB or 32 GB RAM? Get a SSD? So far I am looking at Alienware or Falcon Trading Systems, but am open to other suggestions. Thanks in advance.
I have an Alienware laptop. It is one year old but still a great choice.
The biggest issue I have with it is weight. It is not travel friendly.
My choice would be the MS Surface Book 2 (or 3 when it comes out).
I have the Surface Pro (tablet). Works well and is ok for trading but not as fast as my Surface Book 2. The Surface Book 2 has an Nvidia graphics card and is almost as fast as the Alienware but is light.
I leave my Alienware on the desk and take the Surface Book everywhere.
It is my primary trading machine.
Max out whatever you get with ram.
SSD is not a question, just get it.
Get an extra HD power supply.
These machines are power hungry and tough on p.s.
I just aquired an MSI P65 Creator, i find that 16gb RAM, SSD and good graphics card, this one has an NVIDIA Geforce 1070 are essencial, running on an I7 processor. That should last you enough time without worries.
I have a surface too but to be honest end up using the laptop and monitoring trades on the phone when laptop is not accessible.
Lenovo Yoga 730 i7 16GB RAM 256 SSD here. It's slim and flips around as a tablet or as another monitor (stands upright with just the screen showing). Wireless keyboard and mouse with 27" monitor as well.
Touch screen, backlit keyboard...I love this thing! haha
A good trading laptop needs a good CPU, enough RAM and and SSD drive.
Gaming laptops are good for ... gaming (surprise!). Unless planning using the NVidia card for deep learning with CUDA there are only drawbacks in using a gaming laptop:
- it's more expensive
- it's heavy and bulky
- it makes much more noise
- don't last long on battery
You can configure them without a gaming GPU.
But on my Surface Book 2, the GPU is in the base and like most GPU's it can be turned off if not needed.
The performance is not affected unless you are doing graphic intensive things.(games, videos, etc)
I think what Sam meant was you don't need a gaming GPU to trade.
The trading software does not take advantage of the gaming GPU and is not as essential as a fast internet connection, lots of ram, fast CPU and SSD.
FWIW
Rejoice in the Thunderstorms of Life . . .
Knowing it's not about Clouds or Wind. . .
But Learning to Dance in the Rain ! ! !
I lust for this kind of hardware, but I am trading just fine using an 8 or 10 year old laptop, with nothing much special and nothing that up to date. It drives a larger monitor, but nothing exceptional there either.
My internet connection is normal, which is good enough, and my software (Sierra Chart) is more than fast enough. I generally have a number of Chrome tabs open, and frankly that is the major performance drain. It doesn't affect trading, though.
Sometime soon I will upgrade this old computer, but only because I am tired of how slow it is for non-trading tasks.
I suppose that if you had a very slow trading platform with a lot of very poorly-written things running on it, it would bog this machine down. Also, I'm not arguing against having a fast PC. I just don't think trading is anything like gaming or other high-demand applications. Which does not mean it's not fun to have more computer horsepower, just not necessarily essential for this task.
Your mileage obviously will vary, depending on what you're running.
I have three computers from Falcon, https://www.tradingcomputers.com/ ...... so maybe I'm biased ...but they have been nothing but incredible since my first purchase back in 2011. My last purchase came with lifetime tech support, but they do whatever I ask on my other two machines. Even once on a crappy HP!!!!
All I can say is call them. They are a small company and you can no problem speak to Scott the owner anytime. Everybody there is great, and I speak from experience. Honestly, I can't say enough about them, but you need to find out for yourself.
I like working with anybody there Brennen, Joshua, Jacob....Phil now works from California because he is a big-time diver, so he moved to be closer to the ocean. He is just sales and my least favorite if I'm forced to pick. I ask for Brennen the most. He's cool. Tells me he keeps breaking his finger climbing...lol.
They feel so much like family and I'm being very sincere when I say this. I can't imagine purchasing something so fundamental to my business from some big-ish company and just get some regular "Joe" on the phone.
These guys will gladly take care of any issue and I mean ANY whatever it might be down to the simplest of requests. And they stand behind every machine with ZERO funny business.
Ok I'm done....lol
Ron
...My calamity is My providence, outwardly it is fire and vengeance, but inwardly it is light and mercy...
The steed of this Valley is pain; and if there be no pain this journey will never end.
Buy Low And Sell High (read left to right or right to left....lol)
