Found a "trading laptop" need advice

Hey guys,

I'm wanting to set up a small home system for trading. Bolimomo, scat, and others gave me great advice on the 8 monitor setup I have at my office.

I'm really wanting a laptop with two 22-24" monitors as well as the laptop monitor running in the middle.

I found the following for a little less than $1,400 and am wondering what the rest of you think:

Intel i7 Quadcore 2.0 gigahertz 6mb cache
320 Alienware Solid State Hard Drive
6 GB DDR3 Memory
15 inch 1080p LED screen 1600x900 res
Windows 7 Home 64 bit
The video card is an AMD Radeon HD 6570M/5700 1.5gb

Here's the youtube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vCHsLPRR-c&feature=youtu.be

I don't need the lighting to flash, or change as that's a distraction to me. I'd just set the lighting to blue, or clear if I owned this laptop.

What I don't know yet is:

1. Would this computer be fast enough to trade with?
2. Do I need a different video card to run two more monitors with it?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and advice!

LEAPup
 
Quote from LEAPup:


.....
I found the following for a little less than $1,400 and am wondering what the rest of you think:

Intel i7 Quadcore 2.0 gigahertz 6mb cache
320 Alienware Solid State Hard Drive
6 GB DDR3 Memory
15 inch 1080p LED screen 1600x900 res
Windows 7 Home 64 bit
The video card is an AMD Radeon HD 6570M/5700 1.5gb
.....
1. Would this computer be fast enough to trade with?
2. Do I need a different video card to run two more monitors with it?

The video showed an Intel Core i7 740QM processor, which has a passmark score of 3571. Which is very nice (speedwise) for a laptop.

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7+740QM+@+1.73GHz

However... I would (but I haven't) shop around for any new laptops that feature the new Intel second generation chips (the equivalents of Sandy Bridge i7-2600K or i5-2500K for laptops). Because the second generation chips (desktop) have such a significant jump in performance, you should take advantage of that and bank on (or may be wait a bit for) the newer technology.

15-inch is a bit small. But that's just me. As I like laptops with no less than 17-inch screens. You can have laptops with 17-inch or 18.4 inch screens with resolution up to (like mine) 1920 x 1080. I think you will like the added resolutions when you are travelling.

My bet is that laptop only supports 1 external monitor. If you need to drive one more external monitor, you would need a USB-to-VGA (or DVI) gadget.
 
Quote from Bolimomo:

The video showed an Intel Core i7 740QM processor, which has a passmark score of 3571. Which is very nice (speedwise) for a laptop.

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7+740QM+@+1.73GHz

However... I would (but I haven't) shop around for any new laptops that feature the new Intel second generation chips (the equivalents of Sandy Bridge i7-2600K or i5-2500K for laptops). Because the second generation chips (desktop) have such a significant jump in performance, you should take advantage of that and bank on (or may be wait a bit for) the newer technology.

15-inch is a bit small. But that's just me. As I like laptops with no less than 17-inch screens. You can have laptops with 17-inch or 18.4 inch screens with resolution up to (like mine) 1920 x 1080. I think you will like the added resolutions when you are travelling.

My bet is that laptop only supports 1 external monitor. If you need to drive one more external monitor, you would need a USB-to-VGA (or DVI) gadget.

I agree. Thanks!

And when will the second generation chips for laptops be out? I can wait if the improvement is that good.

Btw, what do you think of three of these for a "budget" build: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236052

And what's an HDMI cable? The guys in the comments section kept recommending it, and complaining it wasn't included.
 
Quote from psytrade:

Get something that supports a docking station...

So you can go somewhere and run it off a big screen when its convenient..

Can you give me an example? Link

It's an interesting thought, no question. I'm FAR from a computer guy, took bolimomo's advice, scat, etc., ordered the parts the last time (literally parts), and had a cumputer builder/repair/nerd-but cool nerd (lol) get an 8 monitor set up for me going.

Are you meaning I could plug the laptop into something like a 52" LCD HDtv? That would be amazing!

What are all of the benefits that come to mind as to why a docking station would be the way to go? Thanks bro!
 
On thing to look out for is 2 (sometimes even 3) external monitor connectors. If you get something like HP Envy (spec in PDF), you can run the internal monitor + 2 external monitors (via HDMI and DisplayPort) at the same time. There are lots of laptops with this feature around. I just linked a reasonably inexpensive one. These will ususally have a graphics card from ATI.
 
Quote from LEAPup:


And what's an HDMI cable? The guys in the comments section kept recommending it, and complaining it wasn't included.

HDMI is a digital interface. Signal-wise it is equivalent to the DVI standard, plus the 2 audio channels. So if you use DVI cable or VGA cable and you want to play audio on the built-in speakers on the monitor, you would need to hook up the extra stereo audio cable. If you use HDMI cable, you don't.

The cable is not a big deal. A 6-foot HDMI cable costs only about USD$20 or so.
 
Quote from Bolimomo:

HDMI is a digital interface. Signal-wise it is equivalent to the DVI standard, plus the 2 audio channels. So if you use DVI cable or VGA cable and you want to play audio on the built-in speakers on the monitor, you would need to hook up the extra stereo audio cable. If you use HDMI cable, you don't.

The cable is not a big deal. A 6-foot HDMI cable costs only about USD$20 or so.

You shold imo build computers while your customers order the monitors, stand (if they want one), etc., It would be a literal turn key system, as all they would need to do is hook up the cables per your instructions, and get the system running. I'd own one!:)
 
Back
Top