I've lurked and read several threads and realized that I am just not tech savvy enough to understand or build my own. I'm currently using two hand me down laptops from my kids and want to treat myself to an upgrade.
I would like to have a set up with 4 monitors, and maybe expand to 6 later. I plead ignorance to all the tech jargon; and really don't care to learn. So, I'm really looking for a company that can just sell me a turn key system. I appreciate any recommendations!
For a traveling workstation, I would recommend a DELL Xeon class laptop, maybe something like a 6-core. Most laptops and desktops will support 3-displays (including the laptop display), and for the extras, you can use an external displaylink adapter that you can add individually or as a hub to go to as many displays as you want. The only downside with a displaylink setup is that it does add extra burden on your CPU, probably in the region of 5-10%. I find a 6-core setup with 32gb ram is sufficient unless you are doing large-data algorithms, running virtual machines and multiple instances of excel or matlab, in which case you go dual-socket++ machines.
For non-travel workstations I prefer a custom SUPERMICRO motherboard/EVGA power supply route (absolutely bulletproof), however the canned route I have had good experiences with Lenovo workstations (former IBM PC unit) as their chassis has been bullet proof and extremely quiet. The problems with DELL/Lenovo units i have found in the past is their power supply/motherboards are vendor specific, and so if either the power supply or motherboard goes, you need to replace both if you want to go aftermarket. Cant just replace one part with aftermarket. Within warranty, everything is ok.
Same deal with workstations, they generally support at least 3 videos as standard, just add an external USB displaylink adapters and you're good to go. There is no need to crack open the case and add more power hungry video cards 24/7 if you are using only 2D trading graphs, except if you require openGL acceleration.
Most important of all these, make sure you use ECC memory in all your setups (error code correction). Most "workstation" class machines will generally have ECC, but Ive been seeing some cheaper ones, even DELL, start to offer non-ECC so to reduce the starting price. This means all your CPUs generally MUST be either Xeons or AMD ryzen/zen/EPYC to support ECC. What ECC ensures is that no errors creep into your machines while running 24/7, especially if you dont reboot your machine alot, and avoid your machine flipping wrong order numbers ...
I would also highly recommend a double conversion UPS so that your PC always runs on clean filtered power separate from your home.
