I'm so fed up with the problems I've had with my laptop. Given the mixed reviews with Vista, I'm wondering about a Mac. Does anyone use a Mac with Tradestation? Thanks!
doesn't parallels + TA software + data stream use a ton of RAM? After all, you are running two OS's in addition to the other stuff.
wow! I am also in the market for a new laptop, and really wanted to give Mac a try, but was worried about hang ups with parallels and my trading software. May have to give Macs another look.
I use parallels all the time. It's Just like running a PC. Parallels Release 3188 is EXTREMELY stable. I havnt had it crash on me yet (running 24/7 for 5 or 6 days at a time.) Works great with Trading software. No Data issues (I use bridged networking mode so that parallels appears to my router as it's own computer) Coherence mode is the best.... I posted a photo somewhere showing the interaction of Parallels software and Mac software (trading) Also I did blow my machine up to 2GB. I had an original Macbook, not the CoreDuo 2's that support 3GB of Ram.... I also added a 160GB Hard Drive. It really helped with Dual OS data access.
I have a MacBook Core 2 Duo. First, I LOVE my Mac. I'm definitely converted in terms of my personal machine. In trading, though, I have a number of trading platforms (forex and futures) in which I monitor both latency and speed. I've found that, when running Parallels, I do have slower speeds and higher latency (just a matter of 10-20 milliseconds). I have a feeling it has something to do with the added overhead on the bridge, but, I'm not sure. For optimal performance, I installed a stripped down version of Windows 2000 on Parallels. To get around the latency issue, I keep my trading software on a remote, dedicated server. I use Remote Desktop Connection to connect to the server and trade with that. It works well. You might be wondering why I need Parallels to run RDC. I've found the Mac version of RDC to be pitifully slow and unreliable. Anyway, it works great and I think, unless you're trying to get in at news time, a few milliseconds of latency resulting from the Parallels networking bridge shouldn't really impact you too much.
Macs are overpriced junk IMO. You can get equivalent performance on a PC for much less then a Mac. Plus 100% of trading software is PC compatible, not 100% is Mac compatible
Stockwet, if the Coherence mode is not a "NEED" for you, you might want to try VMWares FUsion. Much Lower latency than Parallels. Demoship... I think Rolls Royces are Overpriced, but it doesnt stop people from buying them. So far as 100% Compatible. If a PC program isnt 100% compatible with a Mac Booted up under Bootcamp, then I doubt the same program is 100% compatible booted up on a Dell, or the Homebrew you built. Perhaps under a VM environment you will note these problems (Example Tiger 2007 Madden 2007 and NBA Live 2007 will not run under Parallels VM, but they scream under bootcamp.) In the case of TRADING software (what we all care about here) I have yet to find a program that DOESNT run under a VM environment. Unless there is one that requires a certain Video card for some fancy graphics..... Didnt know charts needed super fancy video cards... TS runs great, QT runs great, Laser, Metatrader, Ninja, Button, X-Trader, Esignal, Amibroker. Just a few that I have tried thus far in a VM environment.