Which Laptop Should I Buy

Hi Guys

Just looking for some advice. I am looking to part time trade, I’m taking baby steps, just been getting more and more interested, reading up on the forums, YouTube videos and now this baby pips course.

I am getting a new laptop and I want it to also be decent to trade on, technically i would already be good to go, I have a 15inch HP Probook, a large monitor also, but I am only office bound once a week, and I don’t want to primarily trade on my works laptop.

I was looking at portability but good reselution and speed as if needed I have the other laptop to show more information if needed.

I got it down to 2. The new MacBook Pro 13 with the i5 and 16gb ram. Or the surface book pro 4 fully spec’d out.

Pros i can see with Mac - Fast for what seems a lower spec.
The ability to have multiple desktops, with track pad I can easily switch between screens. Resolution, durability and boot up time is very quick! And it’s a large screen for a 13.

Negatives with Mac - it’s iOS- I would likely have to boot camp to get most software? NT and think or swim? Price not to much an issue as I can lease.

Pros for Surface 4 - great hardware, great resolution, the ability to write notes with the pen and keep trading journal easier? It’s windows so more compatible with software from the start. I am not sure on the multi desktop ability or ease of switching between charts etc?

Negatives surface 4 - smaller screen for 13, more like 12inch or so? Longevity, I know windows is better now but after a year I’ve always had dramas, it needs to last 3 years +

Thanks guys you views are most appreciated.

I understand it’s perhaps exciting purchasing a laptop with the dream in mind that it will be used for Trading, and as such an ‘asset’ that might motivate you to learn more effectively.

However, the truth is that from a ‘laptop Spec’ point of view it makes no difference using a i5 16GB £1k laptop against that of a basic second hand Ebay laptop.

Unless you will be manipulating vast (and I mean vast) amounts of data which is highly unlikely, any laptop/PC will do the job just fine.

My full time profession is a price data analyst, we use i5 with 8gb of ram as standard - I can assure you the databases we work with are some of the biggest going. I’m sure you can make a comparison here between what you [B][U]need[/U][/B], and what you actually [B][U]want[/U][/B]

Then again, if money is not a problem, knock your socks off and splash out.

Yeah I do see your point, the want and the need, i am just thinking of the future proof too. Also I will be doing some light photoshop, and some light editing of video, which is why these 2 sprang to mind, the surface if probably a plus for the photoshop but I am worried on screen size and being able to see multiple charts, the idea of multiple desktop views seem ideal on the Mac but the operating system working with trading platforms worries me.

The Mac are generally a great choice.

Spending a lot of money on a computer is no more going to make you a better trader then spending a lot of money on golf clubs thinking that is only thing holding you back from the PGA tour. I am doing just fine with a 4 year old ASUS laptop running a Intel Core I5. One thing to consider is being able to run a second monitor, my ASUS has a 15 pin external monitor port so extending my laptop on to a 22" monitor is easy. All the new laptops I have looked at no longer have that 15 pin port so not sure how you run a external monitor but I am sure there is a solution.

I have never used a Mac

You can always use the hdmi output for your second monitor and the laptop screen as your first. Windows 10 has a quick setting for this, if it helps. Both screens are independent and not duplications of one another.