I'm a PC user and bought a Mac Cinema Display recently and getting warmed up to everything Mac. Would you recommend a Mac for trading if you have to use Boot Camp to run XP, etc? Does Boot Camp slow down the system at all? Thanks!
I am not a PC user (per se') However Boot camp Running vista on Either a mac book, mac mini or imac has been very zippy. I Compared my system performance to that of a toshiba, all with dual core procs and same 2GB memory. My macbook & mac mini smoked the toshiba.... (dual 1.83Ghz Core Duo chips) The imac has a faster proc, so it was an unfair comparison.
I too am thinking seriously about leaving Dell and getting an Apple laptop or desktop. I know one can run parallels and have Apple's OS plus Windows XP PRo. E-signal tech's told me it would work ( although not supportedby them). TradeStation says it is not supported. Does anyone know if TS works on a new Mac?
Yes, I have not found anything that does not work in parallels or bootcamp when running XP. Using Tradestation and Qcharts myself. BTW I am trading on my Powerbook Pro with 17 inch display (and love it!) I switch back to OS X as soon as I am done with trading
Boot Camp doesn't slow down a mac system or run slower than pcs since it's not emulation software. It's basically a separate partition, and a dual boot machine. You either boot into the mac os, or into windows. That means the macbook pro I use with the ATI x1900 with 256mb of vram runs 3d games and apps at least as fast as any comparable pc laptop, because it is, in effect, a windows pc... On the other hand, parallels and vmware are emulators (vmware is a bit more highly regarded), and I would just stay the hell away from crossover if I were you...
I occassionally run Tradestation on a a macbook 2ghz using vm fusion and it works great even in emulation mode, and even in their Unity mode (windows apps ontop of OS X without the WinXP desktop visible). A Macbook Pro with 2 gig ram would be well enough for this.
Correction. Parallels and VMware are Virtulization apps. There is nothing to EMULATE. they merely allow any other intel based OS to run inside of a virtual machine.... so you lose a small amount of raw speed due to the VIRTUALIZATION aspect.... NO EMULATION VIrtual PC was an emulator....It had to EMULATE an intel chip....
Ok someone please enlighten me. My buddy got a 3k top of the line Mac notebook a few months ago. I priced a dell laptop of about the same hardware at about 1600 bucks. Convince me that the mac with the same hardware is worth 1400 extra bucks.
Its worth it if the love of Macs = the price difference or there is an application you must have giving equivalent value. Or the combination of both.
I just don't get the love that people have for gadgets, I guess. My computers are like my toaster or my wrenches. They are tools to get me what I need. These "religious wars" that people have about their operating systems always make me scratch my head.