You can be very effective with both. There really is no one magic platform that is better than the other. Both can be configured to maximize your capabilities. It's your personal talent, execution and style that will make the difference.
The way I buy technology is to wait for two avances and buy two below - that way I always get the sweet spot between $/performance. IMHO, there is not reason not to get a P4 2Ghz system now - those are dirt cheap... nitro
I just sold my old P2 350Mhz, so i don´t know, which one slould i build P3 or P4. I have seen some p4 comps slower more then my p2.
1. If you've seen P4 slower than P2, something's wrong with P4. 2. CPU speed is not critical in a trading computer for speed of execution... P3 = P4. 3. You might choose P4 if you're doing heavy duty number crunching, but i doubt you'd notice any dif. 4. Your "pathway to execution" (dial-up, cable modem, etc) is much more important than CPU. Of all the processes in the trading "chain of events", CPU speed probably isn't even in the top 10. #1 is the trader's angst over pulling the trigger. Want to economize? Build an 800mhz PIII with 512mb of Ram on Win2000 + cable modem. The dif between this and THE fastest is probably measured in milli-seconds.... it will take you longer than that to swallow before you hit the key.