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Trading laptop - Alienware or Falcon Trading Systems?
And I will confirm this highest possible rating of https://www.tradingcomputers.com/. They are simply THE BEST in the market and I can speak from the experience. I have 2 desktop's from them and my first one is 8 years old. Still does the job and I have NEVER had any problem with it. Built ROCK SOLID and they provide an outstanding customer support (life time). You can call these guys with any question or problem and they will remote in, diagnose and fix or recommend the upgrade if you need one.
the owner of the company is a former nuclear engineer and Falcon hardware is build, burned and tested for weeks before it is shipped. Each machine is custom and in my personal opinion they should start placing a signature of the person who works on each one just like Mercedes AMG does on the engine built by an individual engineer.
I will NEVER buy from any other hardware company except Trading Computers.
Max on the RAM (64 GB is ideal). Take the fastest SSD drive you can get and you will never look at another computer again. EVER.
Yes, they are pricy compare to all other who claim to build trading machines. But they worth EVERY PENNY. When my money at stake in the trade - I choose Falcone.
Many good replies here but would say don't go lower than 32 gb of RAM, especially if you are running things like Bookmap.
Bottlenecks can also be created with cpu so make sure you get at least i7 generation Intel cpu but nowadays with AMD and their threadripper and Ryzen series you can get lots of cores and great performance at a low price.
Get regular SATA drive as well as solid state or M2 and put documents folder on SATA drive. One trading computer I had started going bad and I figured out later was due to putting documents folder on SSD. Regular writing and erasing of data on a SSD will damage it and decrease its lifespan much faster. SSD's are best left for just reading data ie. installing programs to it.
You will need a regular SATA drive (would get 2 TB) with lots of space as tick data takes up much space and you want to stockpile tick data otherwise you have to pay to download it from somewhere else especially if you want to do backtesting etc.
I have a cloud drive backup to automatically backup my data folders in the Ninjatrader documents folder. Good setup in case I ever have to upgrade my computer and download data to it.
Not recommending this necessarily, and not sure how it compares, but I picked up an Asus gaming computer at Costco,, it has as i7, 8th generation , a 4G graphics card,,, it is 17" so it is heavy,, no dvd player,,, but, it supports an external monitor as well,, 64 bit,, 16G of RAM, $1.000.00,,,, a great feature is that you can return it for any reason in the first 3 months,, so you can return it no questions if it doesn't do the trick,,,, and I have always had good luck with their tech support,,, I only called them once but it was something I had mistakenly done to the computer,,, I run it hours every day and have never had an issue with it
It seems fast to me, but I don't consider myself an expert on computers,, my software takes a lot of space, but it seems to run fine,,,, I run NT8, and have a demand heavy trading software
So, in reading all these posts I wonder if there is someone here with real expertise: if you are scalping or short term trading, does CPU speed, # of cores, GPU really make a difference at all? Assuming you have a 4 core processor that's less than 3-4 years old, isn't anything more than that overkill?
I've heard the spiel from EZ Trading computers about how important it is to have desktop grade processors to avoid slippage.
So, bottom line: at what point does slippage become a problem that requires the latest and greatest technology?
I truest believe that if you do your Homework for which processor to go with. Which speed you want . There are studies on all these processors. Some of the computer companies sell much older stock, etc for less money. Being the processors are continuously upgraded. When you decide on your Intel or AMD then decide on your SSD, RAM. If processor needs cooling down. Fans, case, Windows 10 home, etc. if you learn about what each processor, fan, ram, SSD, etc has a purpose for then you’ll be an educated buyer and then it becomes clearer as to whom to purchase from!
Good Luck
It much easier then you might believe!!!
I totally agree, Have 1 falcon pc and 2 laptops. I run, Ninja 8, Trade Navigator back forward testing, live scanning. Etrade, IB execution, scanning. ANZtrade, Comsec. Handles everything I can throw at them. I wouldn't use anything else.
Don't forget to check out the Dells. I recently purchased the Dell G7 and have been impressed with its out of box specs so far: 16gb (upgradable to 32gb), 128 SSD + 1TB HD, has built-in Ethernet port. Allocated 8gb to TWS and run it simultaneously with Sierra Chart. Purchased on special for under $1k back in March.
I know many people have stated the pros/cons of a "gaming" pc.
But even with those various cons you really cant go wrong with an Alienware machine they definitely are high quality, although slightly over priced and you may be able to find an equally spec'd laptop for cheaper. Also worth considering, Alienware is a subsidiary of Dell, so it would be worth checking out some Dells as well they will be essentially the same quality.
When it comes to trading performance, having ENOUGH ram is important but extra doesn't increase performance if it isnt demanded. 16GB will suit all of your trading needs. I have 32GB in my machine, I also edit videos, frequently have dozens of chrome tabs open, adobe photoshop, Ninjatrader, tradingview, sometimes meta trader 4, and I can even leave all of those things open in the background and turn on a game and play. I have my ram usage displayed on my desktop, it RARELY if ever goes over 44%, implying that I probably am using 13GB or so max at any given time. My 32GB is overkill.
Number 1 thing in terms of trading performance is going to be your processor speed and how many cores are in that processor. Quad-core is bare minimum. 6 core is good, 8 core would be superb. Then getting that speed as close to 4ghz per core is where you want to go. So a 3.8ghz processor that has 8 cores would be a spectacular piece of hardware.
Next thing I would do is make sure you have an SSD (or NVME) drive, and probably should be 1 or more TB. This is a quality of life feature but shouldn't go unconsidered.
Luckily, graphics cards don't make "that" much difference in most trading applications. So you might be able to opt for a lesser priced gaming laptop model, and simply upgrade the processor (assuming you're ordering online with some customization ability). Honestly the bottom of the totem pole in terms of "gaming" laptops will still have a more than adequate gfx card.
I think if you cover your bases on the above mentioned items then it honestly comes down to the style of computer you really want. There is something to be said about a design that you like personally. If this is going to be the machine you put a large investment in, make sure it checks your aesthetic boxes as well.
I think this depends, I haven't experienced slippage with any machine I've ever used. However, if you are using orderflow tools to scalp, the orderflow indicators (assuming they use tick data) are going to DRAMATICALLY slow down your pc. Which could result in you seeing data late.
In terms of trading applications, NinjaTrader for example uses a unique core per instrument if your pc has it available. So if your pc has 8 cores, you could theoretically have 8 instruments open without sacrificing any performance. So if someone was a scalper that traded many assets at the same time. Core amount and core speed could matter significantly. If someone was using only indicators that use minute data as opposed to tick data. Then it wouldn't matter quite as much.
