Buy now or in January?

atari_ckx

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May 4, 2006
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Hi, I´m planning to buy a new laptop, (perhaps a HP dv2000z), I plan to spend around $1500; but I don´t know if it´s better to buy it right now or wait until the next year; I already have a laptop and I can wait for a couple of months ... if this will benefit in some hundred bucks less :lol: ... of course, I know if I waits for 2 years or so (LOL) I´ll buy the same system for only $500 ... that´s not the point; just buy know or hold 2 or 3 months until the prices drops? (I don´t know when HP releases its newer models; for sure, this 'older' models will have lower prices).

I lives outside States and it´s difficult for me to check/use all the resources availables for American guys (Mail ins, Leasing and so on).

TIA,
/\T/\R|
 

mpoy

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If you already have one then its better to wait. You will save some but the important thing is to wait to see what will happen with directx10. Maybe in a couple of months there will be laptops with directx10 capable graphic cards.
 

killernotebooks

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For everyone that wants to wait for an 8800 card in laptops, I spoke with nVidia yesterday and they have no plans to offer that. Maybe late summer they will announce a timetable for it.

The card runs too hot and sucks too much energy to be cost effective in notebooks.
 

garyhope

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If you already have one then its better to wait. You will save some but the important thing is to wait to see what will happen with directx10. Maybe in a couple of months there will be laptops with directx10 capable graphic cards.

Please pardon my newb question, but what is "directx10 graphics and do I need or want it for my online stock and currency trading which is mostly 2D charts, etc.?
 

killernotebooks

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No, DX-10 is specialized to games.

:arrow: For trading what you want is bulletproof wireless/LAN first and foremost. Everything else isn't going to mean squat if you get caught in a fast moving contract that the marketmakers pull the stops on and let freefall when you're long or take off when you have it short.

:arrow: Next you are going to want the top of the line LCD with a high refresh rate. Since you are going to be looking at the screen pretty much all day, you want something you can see clearly, especially if you are a technical trader.
.......... :idea: The refresh rate will be "flicker" of the screen. The higher the refresh rate, the less eye strain.
.......... :idea: The brighter the screen the better for "all environments", you should match the lighting in your trading room to the brightness of your screen, and natural, "grow", or lightbox style lighting (lighting that simulates sunlight) would be best for that.
.......... :idea: You also want the contrast & brightness even over the screen. Yopu don't want the top left really bright, and the right middle dark, and the bottom right almost the brightest. This will yield eyestrain too.

:arrow: Third you are going to want a decent video card. You don't need top of the line, but you do need something that can update the graphs fast for real-time charting. A nVidia 7600, ATI x1600 is more than enough.

:arrow: You are going to want a large hard drive. You are going to want the hard drive partitioned into 2 partitions, and a boot manager on there.
.......... :idea: The 1st partition will be your normal "computer" O.S. with your trading platform and junk on there.
.......... :idea: The second smaller partition will be an identical O.S. & Trading Platform with nothing else on there.
In this way if you are doing something and a virus, malware, corrupt file/definition, bad disk sector or update for MS hits your system and takes it down, your livelihood isn't effected because you just switch-over to your "other computer" right there on the same computer.

You just turn the computer off, turn it back on, boot into your trading platform and go. You fix the other junk later because with what you do, you do not have the luxury of time, nor do you want to be stressed out worrying about fixing something if your system goes down, even if it is the weekend or something else.

I don't know if you trade the night time markets, which you probably do if you are trading currencies on Forex, but this is pretty much a 24 hour gig when you need it to be.

Pretty much, top of the line components and support are a must for traders because again, if it goes down you can't have a month between when you call some tech line finally get someone to RMA it and they "get around to fixing it" and send it back.

:arrow: You are NOT going to want to move to Vista because you want something proven and stable. Trading software can be touchy, and you want something that just works. Vista is a resource hog with unknowns you don't need. If you do move to Vista, the dual partition & O.S. system is the best choice because if Vista messes something up in your crucial programs, and won't un-install youa re right back to where you were on your second partition.

:arrow: A quality disk imaging program to copy the contents of your disk each night to an external drive would be clutch if you are keeping everything on your notebook like trading records, family pictures, secret codes and cyphers, pictures of naked animals... whatever.

Big box makers like DELL, HP, COMPAQ, and computer distributors aren't going to understand your usage and what you need on things out of the ordinary like high-end gaming, trading platforms, video & audio editing on professional levels, radiologist/MRI rendering interpretation, high-altitude GPS navigation, harsh weather and environmental studies, high-end simulations... things like that. They are going to kick ace if you want an $900 box that has a lot of the same properties as a paperweight though. I have to give them that.

 

mpoy

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Please pardon my newb question, but what is "directx10 graphics and do I need or want it for my online stock and currency trading which is mostly 2D charts, etc.?

No you dont really need it. It is or should I say it will be important to next generation games or maybe 3D applications. Support for Directx9 (the current technology) is enough for you. The important thing is to buy a model with a graphic card that has dedicated graphics memory not shared memory. It may cost a bit more but it is worth it.
 

garyhope

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Wow, Killer NB,

Thanks very much for the extensive and very detailed and usefully informed reply about graphics and trading computers.

I should have pointed out that I did home build myself the following computer for my online trading. There are some specially built trading computers out there and they're not terribly expensive, but I wanted to build my own just for the fun and experience of it. Here's what I built:

I'm running this:

Asus A8N 5X
AMD X2 3800
2 gig Corsair XMS2048 3200
PNY Quadro NVS 440 PCIEX 16 (Can run 4 monitors from 1 slot)
WD Caviar SE16 2500KS
Samsung 16X DVD+R DVD
Sony IDE DVD-ROM
Samsung 1.44 3.5 floppy
Cooler Master RS 450 in a Cooler Master Centurion 5CAC-T05
Logitech X-230 32 Watts RMS 2.1 Speakers-OEM
2 AGM CW 19" wide screen monitors
MS XP Pro - NOD 32
Motorola Surfboard 5120 cable modem.

And I'm connected to Charter Boradband @ 5000/500kbps (supposedly, usually around 4700/490) and of course, sometimes it does get slow or just go off. I stopped using wireless and just plugged the RJ45 cable right into the back of the computer from the modem.

I learned the hard way to use liimit orders, stop loss orders and trailing stop loss orders, etc. Especially for Forex which moves so incredibly fast that your fingers can't keep up with it. You have to have a limit or stop loss order already programmed into your order and let the computer and your trading software do it. By the time the words "it's going up (or down)" come out of your mouth, it's too late.

I am thinking of replacing my aging Fujitsu Lifebook C2111 (the motherboard has been replaced 2 times in 3 or 4 years (the ac connector broke off twice) for when I travel. This time I'm thinking of going smaller and lighter (maybe 4 pounds or so) and smaller. Got any ideas? (LOL)

I'm kinda leary of HP, Toshiba, Dell and Sony and those "integrated graphics" even though 2 D charting graphics are probably not that demanding. I don't know if it makes much difference for what I'm doing.

Do you think there would be much difference or point between an Intel C2D or an AMD X2 Turion for a trading laptop?

Thanks for all the time and effort you devote to questions here on Tom's.
 

killernotebooks

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For what you are doing, either AMD or Intel is fine, in fact, a single core processor would be enough.
There is a guy on here selling a Gateway for like a grand or something that is 17" and has a great video card at that price. He also has it posted at the GuruOfGaming forums in the trading post|over $1,000 for sale. That would be a nice inexpensive trading notebook.