Just got a netbook last month, works very well with what I need it to do. I made sure it was able to run the software before I bought it, it works smooth however running a few open programs can slow it down just a bit.
Thank you for the tip on shoveit. I ended up with a slightly different answer, that I forgot to share initially. I run everything, including TWS, on a remote system and set up a remote desktop that is bigger than my netbook screen. I can then scroll around in the bigger display using remote desktop. Again, not ideal, but workable.
Vikana, You use a VPS for remote set-up ? Any suggestions for good deals ? With what software do you access your remote set-up ?
I travel with an Asus eeePC with 2GB of RAM and a 160GB HD. The 32 bit OS is great for running the trading platform but I find the screen and resolution too small for the charting. For charting I run a 15" quad core laptop with 8 GB of RAM and a 64 bit OS for the charting. I attach a portable 15" travel monitor to it for dual screens and the portable office is complete. Both laptops are using Logitech Alto docking stations and coolers. It all fits nicely in a Swiss travel case and fits in the overhead of a plane.
I've got X trader pro; esignal; and think or swim running on an msi u 100 that uses tiny xp as an OS. I use it to build new autospreaders, look at charts on the go, and model option positions in TOS. This netbook is one of my favorite technology purchases of all time! I trade off of it on occasion but prefer to use a quad core desktop system on a direct connection to Globex during the day. If your trading over the internet the WAN is going to be your major bottleneck not your system performance. X trader option menus are not designed to support the 1024x600 native display on most 10" netbooks. but the small view fits nicely for a trade ladder. Sometimes I have to bump the resolution to 1024x768 scrolling to hit ok on a menu. Esignal and TOS work fine. Time for bed...
Be carefull here. Software: none needed normally. Remote Desktop is part of windows core functionality. BUt "good deals" often are not exactly as promised - once gets lots of RAM and CPU... when it is free. When not... well... let's just say that I consider TRADING a little more important than serving websites. I work in my own trading software and it will run 100% virtual... but then, I own the server (and just use virtualization for many reasons, having lots of small servers is one, having a better catastrophy scenario is another) and make sure that both RAM and CPU are ok on the hardware level and not oversold. Good deals pretty often survive by stuffing as much on a server as possible - which is not what you want with money at stake
Netbooks generally have a higher hardware failure rate than notebooks; over 10% develop a hardware defect within the first year. This might be a relevant consideration in using netbooks for trading.
laptop and netbook failure: http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/154921 netbooks are very cheap. you should always have a 2nd one as a backup if u use them.