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I am using VMWare Fusion running Windows XP running NinjaTrader 7 on a 24" flat-screen iMac. Sometimes have connection problems that I never have on my native PC laptop at home, running Vista, but that's a minor annoyance. It's only a problem on initial startup / connection that it tries to re-connect multiple times (2, or 3 times before successfully connecting to Mirus ZenFire data feed.) Once it's up & running, I leave it up 24 / 5 and it runs with no problems. Been doing this for 3+ years - previously with Ninja 6.5.
After all, it's what you learn AFTER you know it all, that counts!
I'm not a computer geek so I don't know what is the attraction is for using VMware...I've read that depending on your system there could be some slight delays...not good for trading.
Is the one of the benefits self containment, that it is isolated in a sense that if you get a malicious virus you can just delete the whole thing without affecting the rest of the computer? If that's the case wouldn't a software like SandBoxie provide similar safe guards?
Thanks
"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." --- "Therefore, I Believe it and I will see it. And every day and in every way, I am healthier, wealthier, and wiser."
Currently I have a 27" imac and I am using Think or Swim from Mac OS mainly for Swing Trading. I use Vmware Fusion to run Ninja Trader. Additionally I also use 2 other softwares on Windows virtual such as Street Smart and one more mainly to manage my trading on 401K account as it is tied to that. My thinking is does it makes sense to get a new windows machine dedicated for just trading and use the mac for all the other stuff such as trading news, browsing, email during market hours given the fact that all trading softwares are primarily geared for Windows.
Additionally I am planning to get an extra monitor if I am putting too much work on the imac - so thats why I was confused.
I was running VMware and NT 7 on an older Mac Book Pro with an additional 20" monitor. The system worked well and I didn't have an issues.
I just upgraded to a windows box, which was scary because I have been a Mac guy for 15 years, so I could run 64 bit. Honestly, I wish I had saved the money, because I haven't seen that big of a speed increase.
The following user says Thank You to lipton80205 for this post:
it honestly comes down to what kind of "day trading" you are doing...
if you are scalping, wrong setup to go with... you are adding latency overall...
if you are day trading in and out of positions within minutes, not seconds, then it makes no difference and it will work just fine. I no longer run NT7 on my main OS, I run it on a VM only since I dont really use it all that much. I am still mad about having spent $1500 on it, but at least it was a business expense...
the whole Parallels vs. Fusion... hmmm... Parallels was first, but VMWare has a lot more resources IMO... and when it comes to support I rather go with the company that can provide lots of $$$ to their R&D to advance and improve the platform.
Thxs much. Let me tell you my situation so your response may be more helpful. Currently I am using a 27"imac and have vmware installed and am using windows xp 32 bit. I run ninjatrader on virtual machine and for Day Trading I am not a scalper and I will be in and out of positions in minutes. I will be using around 8 charts - some minute charts, some tick charts and quote monitor screen and the super DOM. And on the MAC OS I will be running regular email, browsing, think or swim.
At this point I need atleast 1 extra monitor (which the 27"imac hardware supports). I have total 12 GB ram and the virtual machine uses around 3.6gb and mac the remaining around 9 gb.
I am planning to get a 24" monitor and sometime in the future get windows 7 - 64 bit so I can allocate around 6GB ram. I will be trading emini futures. So given all this I wanted to make sure if just getting 1 extra monitor is good enough or from what I have read some say that on heavy volume days where data and order execution are key and is best to have a powerful dedicated system such as i7 processor.
FYI currently I am using i5 dual core 3.06 Ghz on the MAC.
Hope I was able to explain what is running through my mind.
my opinion... dont bother with win7 64b.. you dont need it if only running NT7 on the VM... just use Win7 32b .. as long as you install a clean OS and just NT7, it wont need tons of resources... CPU might end up being your issue to be honest.. I run mine with 2GB on Win7 32b, but as I said... I dont run it often ...
overall, you can still do Win7 64b and allocate it enough resources... the current resources you have are more than enough and that new monitor can always be re-used.
you can also take better advantage of the two screens by having windows across them.. meaning, I believe fusion had the option to minimize it, but launch the application and show on the OSX desktop without showing the windows desktop, or even integrate with the OSX menus... I liked that feature a lot.
I dont know what you get from NT7 but there are some alternatives for MAC, I looked at it a while back... you can take a look at :
you can also look at a qemu/wine derivative... that will let you execute windows bins on mac... but I have not tried it with NT7.. so give it a try and let us know..