How long do you expect to keep your computer? I have had a desktop for three years. No maintenance has been done to it. I don't intend to send it for maintenance, now, and will replace it it when it gives trouble, but the previous one lasted for several years before replacement.
You can pay all sorts of prices for laptops. My policy would be to buy the cheaper (not necessarily the cheapest, though) and replace it. Technicians are running at around 100 euros per job, minimum, now!
You can pay all sorts of prices for laptops. My policy would be to buy the cheaper (not necessarily the cheapest, though) and replace it. Technicians are running at around 100 euros per job, minimum, now!
nine
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If you don't need to drag it around with you then a desktop gives you a lot more bang for your buck as well as lowering maintenance costs ( just replace the cards that need to be fixed ).
Also a desktop can be upgraded over time by adding newer faster XXX components depending on what you need.
Also a desktop can be upgraded over time by adding newer faster XXX components depending on what you need.
new_trader
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A laptop. You should get 3-5 years life out of a laptop and by then, operating systems and CPU's have moved on a generation making 'upgrading' an old desk top PC just as expensive as buying the latest laptop.
3-4 Years?? Irun a Toshiba Tecra for business and personal use. I have had it a couple of years and it was second hand off Ebay so it must be at least 5 years old. I also use a PC. So which is best?
Well it depends how you use it. Laptops were designed to be portable althoug h they now seem more like fashion items or must haves, like iPhone what have you. A laptop is harder to use for long periods, particularly with a lot of writing and the mouse pad can be a bit arduous. This is why some have docking stations, or you could connect a mouse and monitor and turn it into a......PC! A laptop takes up a lot less space and with a wireless internet connection can be used anywher in the house, or garden. Or with a USB broadband anywhere dongle.. anywhere. I would say, with their larger screens, longer battery life, laptops must be the best choice.
Well it depends how you use it. Laptops were designed to be portable althoug h they now seem more like fashion items or must haves, like iPhone what have you. A laptop is harder to use for long periods, particularly with a lot of writing and the mouse pad can be a bit arduous. This is why some have docking stations, or you could connect a mouse and monitor and turn it into a......PC! A laptop takes up a lot less space and with a wireless internet connection can be used anywher in the house, or garden. Or with a USB broadband anywhere dongle.. anywhere. I would say, with their larger screens, longer battery life, laptops must be the best choice.
nine
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Try putting 6-8 screens on a laptop. Easy with a standalone, just buy a couple of cheap cards.
How many have 24 wide or even 20 wide screen?
For serious trading most people set up a station rather than taking their trading out to the pool (Even the new Dell screen is hard to see out in the Queensland sun).
It all depends what you want to do. But for a serious day trader wanting responsiveness (no, wireless is not as good as a direct connection) and some screen acreage its going to be a desktop.
If I was logging in every 4 hours to place daily or 4 hourly forex trades then I might well settle for a laptop (but screen acreage is like cubic inches --- its hard to settle for less
)sjrider2397
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I trade seriously with my laptop. When I am at home it is in my office hooked up to 2 different screens both are 32 inch hdtv, so I have a total of three monitors to trade with. I also hook up a usb mouse, learned that the hard way. When I travel I trade with just my laptop. You can not see as many charts at one time but it works for me. Sometimes to much information is a bad thing.
KillPhil08
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Laptop's are more or less just as powerful as PC's the only difference is their graphics potential. (Most) laptops have new processor units to stop them from overheating, if you plan on using your laptop/PC for a while this cuts down on how much power you need to use (hence cutting electricity bills...).
Also, laptops are fairly silent in comparison.
PC's have the bonus of having extra slots, if new programs come out in the future you will be able to buy a stick of RAM for pretty cheap and add it into these slots. Same goes with GPU's.
If you are looking to upgrade your PC every so often, I'd recommend looking into motherboards which won't be outdated - they are the heart of your machine and everything your PC has is based on it (motherboard is your PC's potential).
However, with laptops you can buy external graphics cards or multiscreen adaptors for moderately cheap to add those extra screens.
I'm a PC guy because I like my games, however if i wanted to buy one, I'd most likely choose a laptop and stick with my xbox.
Also, laptops are fairly silent in comparison.
PC's have the bonus of having extra slots, if new programs come out in the future you will be able to buy a stick of RAM for pretty cheap and add it into these slots. Same goes with GPU's.
If you are looking to upgrade your PC every so often, I'd recommend looking into motherboards which won't be outdated - they are the heart of your machine and everything your PC has is based on it (motherboard is your PC's potential).
However, with laptops you can buy external graphics cards or multiscreen adaptors for moderately cheap to add those extra screens.
I'm a PC guy because I like my games, however if i wanted to buy one, I'd most likely choose a laptop and stick with my xbox.
JTrader
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In my experience laptops are A LOT slower than desktops at completing just about every process. This is aseriously big problem for the slightly impatient user in a hurry. Therefore it must be a serious problem for a trader to whom speed of processing is EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
0007
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Agree. It's a trade-off between speed-convenience-cost.
None of it will make you a good trader of itself though !
JTrader
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Actually i disagree. A slow PC that delays processes being completed could have a BIG impact on your trading results.
If i was to try day trading with my lap top, where it can delay a process completion for 5 seconds or so, as it makes its whizzy noises at maybe 15 second intervals, i reckon the broker would have a field day!
It is 1 year old toshiba 2GB ram, 2 gb processor etc. These specs for me have no correlation to the equivalent specs in a desktop, as laptops v's a desktop with equivalent specs are just SO much slower!
My 5 year old T-REX PC with 1gb ram, 2Gb processor, 80gb hard disk etc is significantly quicker than the laptop.
0007
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You're right.
What i was trying to say was that it won't improve your persona as a trader. As you rightly point out, whatever system or methods you use you're well advised to get the best tools for the job - eg my slow swing trading i could probably use a carrier pigeon and still make money (worked ok for Rothschild!)
I can't see how a pc and a laptop "with the same spec" can have a different operating speed.A laptop with the same spec as a pc will be twice the price (sort of). When a top spec PC was about £600 laptops were over £1000. Now I would say the two machines would be £300 against £600. Problems peculiar to laptops were lack of graphics cards, heat and battery life. With processors etc. designed specifically for laptops rather than adapted from PC stuff laptops nowadays are fine for trading purposes. With most trading platforms the streamed data uses very little bandwith. The biggest problem I find is the trading sytem blocking on-line trading due to incorrect price (IG) etc. and you have to use the 'phone anyway. I would be very wary about relying on an online system if I had large open positions. It depends what sort of trader you are. Even the LSE system went down a while ago, remember and was out virtually all day. Most professional brokers would have two different trading systems at least and even a disaster recovery location. Just make sure the machine you are using is adequate for your purposes. I don't know but maybe if you are running svereal charting progs, two price systems (I usually have IG Index and proquote running) and something else (regression analysis on a spread sheet) you need to know that things won't freeze. If my money depended on it I would have at least two machines, one solely for the trading platform. If you sit at a desk with papers, books etc. you migt as well have a Desktop, I suppose.
new_trader
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You are right, there is no difference in CPU processing speed. Electricity moves at the same speed whether it is in a laptop or desktop. Some cheaper laptops use integrated graphics chips and share CPU memory to process graphics whereas others have a dedicated graphics chip and dedicated graphics RAM and that makes a difference. You cannot simply say 'laptops' are slower unless you qualify the statement. When I last looked, the Top spec CPU was only available in a desktop, so yes, if you bought that one it would be quicker than any laptop. But same spec=same speed whether it is a laptop or desktop.
nine
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Be careful. The laptop cpus are optimized for laptops ... power consumption and heat are very important. Often it looks to have a similar spec cpu until you spend some time understanding cpu specs. No one has a Ninja heatsink in their laptop.
The simplest way is too look at the cpu benchmarks on anandtech or tomshardware. The same speed doesn't necessarily mean the same throughput - there is considerably more to cpu design than that. And then you look at the other components of speed which are not optimized for speed in a laptop.
Just check the price points out: lower spec cpu (once you dig in and understand the spec). Also the ram is usually slower (cooler, lower power) and the motherboards will be slower (cooler, lower power, more power control). Blah blah blah
But the key point: do you need portability? Yes = laptop.
If not you can get better bang for your buck and flexibility with a system.
The simplest way is too look at the cpu benchmarks on anandtech or tomshardware. The same speed doesn't necessarily mean the same throughput - there is considerably more to cpu design than that. And then you look at the other components of speed which are not optimized for speed in a laptop.
Just check the price points out: lower spec cpu (once you dig in and understand the spec). Also the ram is usually slower (cooler, lower power) and the motherboards will be slower (cooler, lower power, more power control). Blah blah blah
But the key point: do you need portability? Yes = laptop.
If not you can get better bang for your buck and flexibility with a system.
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new_trader
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Benchmark test
I would never argue with a benchmark test!
I would never argue with a benchmark test!
