Not Verizon, but Tmobile only. I'll be getting tmobile's wireless service next month. Dialup is sufficient for me, and apparently tmobile has better coverage than verizon in the Seattle area. My phone (verizon) gets a lot of deadspots there where as tmobile does not. I would find out who has the best coverage in your area since it does vary from city to city.
pc at the office and a Toshiba 17" laptop when on the road. sometimes I bring a separate 19" LCD to have with the laptop if I will be gone for more then a day. my new toshiba has been the best laptop i have ever owned--------exceptional screen quality--- http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7266353&type=product&id=1117177367711
Hi, I travel a lot and so my primary trading computer is a notebook. When at home I plug it in to an external monitor for a second screen and have a second smaller laptop running for communications and as a backup, etc. I shopped quite a bit for the main laptop I am using now, and was really looking for something with as near to a desktop in performance and stability as possible. If you are in the market for one, take a look at what the computer industry calls desktop replacement models. The ones I was looking at are all 17" and rather big and heavy as far as laptops go, but all have 1gig ram and solid processors. Big and heavy, but I can deal with that for performance. Although there are other options, here are the final three I was considering: Toshiba Qosmio G25-AV513 Pentium M Processor 2GHz, 1GB RAM, 120GB Hard Drive, 17-inch Monitor 1440x900 native resolution. about $2900 HP Pavilion zd8230 Pentium 4 Processor, 3.4GHz, 1GB RAM, 100GB Hard Drive, 17-inch monitor, 1440 x 900 native resolution. about $2100 Sony Vaio A790 Pentium M Processor, 2GHz, 1GB RAM, 100GB Hard Drive, 17-inch, 1920 x 1200 native resolution. about $2700 The Toshiba was probably the slickest of the bunch, but I probably wouldn't use all the media-center stuff it comes with so didn't want to spend the few extra $$ for it. The HP has a couple of nice features. It has a regular pentium 4 not an M, so it really is like a desktop performance wise. But the pentium 4s get hot and battery life is pretty bad. And really, the Pentium M's are really fast and solid these days, and you wont set your desk on fire with them. The HP also has a full size keyboard with a separate numeric keypad, which is handy if you are a trader into hotkeys. In the end, I went with the VAIO because it of its 1920x1200 native screen res. At that resolution text is super small and its pretty hard on the eyes if you are using it to surf the internet, so be warned, but I can fully trade of it with just the single monitor when not at home. Totally happy with it so far. I get a butt-load of esignal charts on that thing and run a DOM right next to it when trading the ES, and get like 6+ decent sized charts and 3 level 2 screens and a few quote boards if I am trading equties. Because of that screen, I think it makes a pretty kicking trading computer if you aren't going to use it a lot for a bunch of other text related things, or don't mind small type. But really, all three are pretty damn nice and would be plenty enough computer for most trading. Hope this helps, Enzo
I trade with a dedicated desktop (Dell Optiplex). This is used purely for trading. My laptop is a Toshiba piece-of-sh*te, that is my backup trading machine and is also used for surfing, etc. Either can be used for trading, but I would recommend against Toshiba laptops. The old style ugly grey boxy Tecras were fantastic. Extremely reliable. Nowadays, the new models are plagued by dead-pixels, regular hard disk failures (Toshiba makes their own hard disks, with only a 1 year warranty. Mine went after 1.5 years of use. Now, it has been replaced by a Seagate 5 year warranty HDD), the dreaded LCD inverter problem (sometimes the screen does not switch on, turning the laptop off and on again seems to fix it), and even the inbuilt modem problem which affects sound (sounds is played back an octave below!!!) - Toshiba does not even admit this! Just do a search on the internet about Toshiba problems. I believe that recently there was a class action suit against them. Plus they supplied a bunch of laptops with faulty memory (you had to download a diagnostic from theit site to test your laptop if it had the faulty brand). Second rate stuff. This was my third Toshiba purchase, and it will be my last. I would say a Dell latitude would make a far beter replacement. There are so many of these at work, and hardly any failures. Just my experience, and hopefully a warning to everyone to vote with their wallets. PS. I also found Toshiba's service to be second rate, they really didn't care.
Inspirons, Latitudes or Precisions? I would guess Inspirons? (My experience has been with Latitudes). The problems I itemized above where with a Tecra S1 with 1Gb or RAM. At the time, their top of the range business laptop. What a piece of rubbish that was...
one inspiron and one latitude. one had a problem at times powering up during the start up phase, the other had bad screen lighting----------both were fixed and the problems did not return so that was good.
Thanks Macro. It does happen, but Dell provides (at least in my neck of the woods) 3 year warranty/service (I believe next day at your place service for the first year???) - Toshiba is only 1 unless you extended it. If I could trade my Toshiba in I would get a Dell. My best bet at the moment is to probably buy a Sony, as I can at least trade-in my Toshiba for part of the cost. Cheers.
sounds like toshitba might have realed me in with their cool TruBrite screen look-------oh and the harman kardon speakers.
Notebooks are an ergonomic nightmare. If you want to use a notebook to trade (without an external keyboard) make sure you have good disability insurance. Martin