what do you do with your previous rig, pay someone to haul it out? I cannibalize my old rigs, put those savings where it counts.. faster proc, more mem, quality MB.
I guess it matters how "previous" your rig is.... For most of us, using an old rig to share part of the load through a router has significant benefit.
you can get used 2.6gh 8 core mac pro with dual HD 11gig of ram and raid card for that on ebay.. make a boot camp partition, and run windows native for trading, easy one click "snapshot" backup of the WHOLE windows, and browse internet using mac os, no viruses or worries. besides, think or swim has mac os suite.. http://cgi.ebay.com/Apple-Mac-Pro-8...tops?hash=item4147e3cb1b&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
I've had Dell PCs for about 10 years... Win2K originally, and XP since.... I've had virtually ZERO problems... How's hoitytoity Mac gonna improve on that?
BFD.... not necessary for trading. Dell does not allow overclocking so their support doesn't have to deal with noobs screwing up their rig.... at least on this issue. Everybody with half a brain already knows this. If you want to overclock, get something besides a Dell. The fact that "Dells don't overclock" in no way diminishes their value or competence.