Related question: What is a good laptop for a vacation trading machine? Running tradestation + TWS Would 2 monitors + matrox box + $700 core 2 duo dell lattitude with 3GB RAM hack it?
I never used a matrox box, and the reason is that your secondary graphic port needs to support a 2x width of the resolution of your external monitors, in order to stretch the picture properly. All it does is just to split the image in two. At least this is how I understand it. Hence if you want to run two 1920x1200 screens, your graphic card needs to support 3840x1200. Most likely your laptop doesn't. I'm not sure how the picture will look unless you have this pixel-match on the resolutions. Someone who have the matrox box may comment on that.. ? I've been looking for a dual external laptop setup myself, and now I will try out the Tritton See2 Xtreme, as linked above. There is a potential lag issue on this though, and I don't think video will display well, or at all. But should work for trading applications I think. However, if you buy a new laptop there are some with dual video ports. DVI and HDMI for example. However you need to confirm if they are actually able to run simultanously separate desktops. The Tritton is a very light-weight solution. Giving you two external video ports, including the built-in external of your laptop. However to get full performance you need either a dock with graphic card, or a laptop with built in dual support. The latter can be very difficult to confirm though, both by searching the net or by asking any support person.
Yes it can be done. Just buy a Dell XPS or any other laptop that have both VGA and HDMI, and get a LCD monitor that has HDMI input. (easy to find now at around 300$) I do it with my XPS laptop and it works fine.
Thanks for this recommendation. I ordered it, arrived two days later, and was very easy to set up and runs great.
Some newer laptops have both VGA and DVI outputs - I know that Apple does and some high end Sony laptops do (dell too IIRC). You're talking high end units though. Some quick research shows that many of the high end laptops on the market all have HDMI + VGA outputs, apple had DVI but may have switched over to HDMI. Dell has options for dedicated graphics card in some of their laptops, I would go that route or just walk into a store and start playing with stuff. Panasonic Toughbook also allows for dual outs. VGA + HDMI http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...Id=8198552921644588896&parentCategoryId=16154 dell: http://www.dell.com/content/product...9&~oid=us~en~29~laptop-studio-xps-13_anav_2~~
For years I used a VT Book âMultiple Display Cardâ [www.villagetronic.com] gently, no, lovingly, inserted into the PCMCIA slot of my Thinkpad A22m laptop. This puppy has, in addition to the âdefaultâ monitor [14.1 XGA (1024x768) TFT LCD], a âTV outâ VGA connection to which I attached a 15 inch Sony Trinitron monitor. The VT Book card comes with a DVI connector and a DVI to VGA adapter. To the latter I attached a Samsung 711N Synchmaster 17 inch LCD monitor. This configuration worked flawlessly and allowed me to consistently and effortlessly lose large amounts of money as I traded early AM GOOG with 40-80 ticks/bar charts over several years. As a consequence of this trading activity, I came to know that what I really needed was a freakinâ great desktop trading computer and so a couple of years ago I purchased a Falcon F-18V. Now I can see the money leaving my wallet more quickly than ever before. It so happens that at this time, in order to support my mail-order wife, Tanya, and our brood (eight at last count with sextuplets on the way) of yowling rug rats, Iâm selling the VT Book card and the details of this will shortly be found in the âClassifiedâ thread. IMO, this configuration was an effective and inexpensive way to achieve multiple monitor status with a laptop. lj
My "geek" friend told me to wait until USB 3.0 comes out this year. He says the external USB video cards currently available have lag issues and just lack in performance.
For trading you really have to buy a dock. For a measly $200-300... You can have a mouse, external keyboard, and 2 external monitors... And any half-decent graphics card will support two 1900 x 1200 monitors. It's not as if your gonna trade while skate-boarding. With such a simple solution... Why muck around with Matrox or USB?