Fun Thread: Why I love my trading laptop

Bad_Badness

Bad_Badness

I see many people are asking about machines. I though I would share some thoughts. I have built machines, bought servers, and done a lot. My first PC was and IBM AT.

Now 35 years later here is what I have and why I love it.

MSI GT75 Gamming Laptop with an i7 and an RTX 2070, and Samsung Pro 970 SSD. It was about $2300, so high end expensive.

Here are the reason I love this machine:
  • I never really have to worry about power for trading software, EVER.
  • It boots in 12 seconds and I am in IB in 30 sec or less.
  • I can hook up to 3 monitors, DP, HDMI and Thunderbolt.
  • I hook up a CAT6e cable to the fiber router, and Wifi backup to a Cellular hotspot. Automatic fall over takes about 10 seconds.
  • Since it is a laptop, it has a backup power supply of about 90 minutes.
  • Per Key RGB LED lighting allows custom key identification.
  • I can prioritize network traffic, so IB is always first.
  • 5 USB ports not counting Thunderbolt.
  • high quality screen.
  • Mechanical keyboard by Steel Series.
  • Full Audio analog ports
  • I put it in a Pelican case, so it is in perfect condition after MUCH travel.
  • I can resell it for about 60% after 3 years.
Overall, I can get out of the "computer support" business and just work on the "trading business". I know many will say you don't need all this, and this is true. But I do enjoy it all. I can play A rated games, and so much more.

It is a highly reliable machine, I don't have to deal with the backup power and backup connection issues and it is portable.

Cheers
 
Thanks for sharing. I am looking for something similar but want to stay at around 1k. What other brands would you consider?
 
The same way I cannot imagine running my platforms on my personal PC
Now I have my entire trading business separated on a VPS near exchange while platforms are also installed in a "standby mode" and ready to fire on my laptop.

This way my PC can blow up and I am still able to trade off my phone. If both blowup I will pull my old Dell laptop out and reconnect quickly.

After some BSODs in the past, net connection drops, power outages etc I have found a VPS server with a remote connection from my PC to be a lot better solution
 
Since I trade CME from EU it is located in Chicago .. I believe it can save some slippage cost since I enter using the market order on a signal trigger (half-automatic). So, over time the slippage savings could pay for the VPS at least :D

But stability and availability is lot more important
 
tomas262 said:
Since I trade CME from EU it is located in Chicago .. I believe it can save some slippage cost since I enter using the market order on a signal trigger (half-automatic). So, over time the slippage savings could pay for the VPS at least :D

But stability and availability is lot more important
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I'm doing something similar. Did you code the algo yourself? Which VPS and broker are u using for best latency combo?
 
SunTrader said:
Playing games on the same machine you trade with. :confused: Welcome to trading, even if it is using a high-powered unit.
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Although I would personally never purchase a laptop with a GPU that gets toasty, bad idea. With a desktop that's sufficiently cooled and powerful, I see no reason not to.
 
I was thinking more along the lines about being serious with your profession.

Do F1/Nascar drivers use their "work" vehicles for personal use?
 
qlai said:
Thanks for sharing. I am looking for something similar but want to stay at around 1k. What other brands would you consider?
More...
I tend to like high build quality, so 1K is pretty low. I would check out the ASUS line. They run the AMD chips and that will help reduce costs, but they do tend to run a bit hot. You don't even need a dedicated GPU really. On the other hand, I would just consider the other parts lasting more than 3 years and resale value. Used gamming machines are easy to sell at a good price.

Higher end laptop machines have made a lot of progress in the last 3 years. It seems with the "death of the PC" being a concern, the shift from desktops to remove VMs and Laptops accelerated. At first it was a clunky transition, but now things are pretty darn good.

For me security is important, so I like a single machine that I can maintain and monitor tightly.

Cheers
 
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