I've migrated to mac, and love using unix with a great GUI. Those mac minis are sufficient to run IB and prorealtime. Add one of those Apple DVI LCDs and you've got a great little system. Oh yeah, and no fans! If you want to save some dough there are plenty of 19" DVI LCDs in the $300 range... $800 for a mac mini and 19" LCD. Proud owner of a G5 20" iMac and powermac quad + 30"
Dell's money is not made on "homeowner" hardware, so while they care, they probably don't care a whole lot.
I was told, Mac's are for teen-age girls..... The financial industry is basically still WINTEL so i stay with the crowd... Gamers have some advantages with AMD, but my game is about money not head shots...:eek: PS, seriously though, HP workstations are the way to go, if you do a serious comparison betweem HP and DELL then HP is the winner by a long shot. HP uses newer high end stuff and prices also beats dell. HP is better at solutions where dell is only worried about pushing the numbers out the door.
I like having one because I occasionally have a need. Anyone like me who has such a need but no floppy can get one at CompUSA for about $10, and install it in 5 minutes.
I bought an external floppy, use it on all machines if needed. it is handy for F6 when installing a raid setup. PS, HP numbers looked good. They are giving DELL a good run. Check out the workstations, far and away much better than a dell. HP is fine in my book. Maybe they dumped Carly too soon.....
There is a very good chance that I will be picking up a Mac mini as my first Mac sometime during 2006, specifically for the purpose of using it as a high security trading + web browsing computer. I would then ideally use a PC with a monitor or two hooked up to use for charting + gaming + misc.
I'm surprised, I thought the newer laptops with the M processor don't need to run the fan too often. How often does it turn on? I have a Dell Laptop that's about a year old and the fan is pretty loud, although it is not a M processor, just a regular 2.3 Gig. When I first got the laptop the fan would never turn on, then as junk started getting on the computer after 6 months it would turn on steady. I had to reinstall the OS software and refresh the computer and now it's ok again. I wouldn't worry about floppy's, they're like 8 track tapes.
I'm pretty sure this isnt a laptop or he wouldnt have been complaining about the lack of an AGP slot I think
I have a refurbished Dell 8300 that I swear by at my home office. It has been my second refurbished purchase from Dell, and each one of the desktop PC's that I have purchased from their Dell Outlet have run flawlessly. If you have customized your computer and are running a lot more RAM and more powerful drives, AGP cards, etc. and you own a Dell, you might want to check out replacing your stock power supply. The Power Supply is not the most glamorous part of your computer, but it sure is incredibly vital to your platforms durability. http://www.pcpowercooling.com/home/