Trade with an Apple?

[404 10]

I dont know if this is the proper place for this thread, but is anyone using an apple computer to trade?

 

I havent done much research yet, so I dont know if the different trading platforms will even operate through an apple setup...

 

?

[torero 10]

I think our moderator TinGull uses an Apple for trading. Might want to contact him for info.

[stanlyd 10]

I use an apple laptop when i am on the road. Thing is that none of my trusted aps for trading work on the mac side. So what I did is install parallels. This way you can run windows and mac os at the same time. When I am trading I just flip over to the windows side and it runs everything great. Just need to make sure you have intel proc, and ma out as much ram as you can.

[aiki14 10]

I use an apple laptop when i am on the road. Thing is that none of my trusted aps for trading work on the mac side. So what I did is install parallels. This way you can run windows and mac os at the same time. When I am trading I just flip over to the windows side and it runs everything great. Just need to make sure you have intel proc, and ma out as much ram as you can.

 

Ditto. Run my mac book pro with parallels. Not a multi screen workstation, but in an airport or hotel it runs everything I need to get by.

[LS_Chad 10]

Investor/RT runs on Macintosh 9.x and OS X.

 

www.linnsoft.com

[404 10]

I am not a computer guru, but I do have a mac notebook.

Would "trading" through an apple setup be slower, or worse in any way? (when running the parallel setup)

 

I am looking to buy a desktop setup, and I would love to go with a apple setup if it is on equal footing with a pc setup.

[stanlyd 10]

If you are using on of the new mac's you will have more then enough juice to run parallels(just make sure you get enough ram in it). My macbook pro with windows on it runs equal if not better then my pc.

[BlowFish 10]

MacBook Pro laptop running Windows XP using bootcamp. Hardly ever boot MacOS. It is a windows "PC" so everything that runs on windows runs.

 

Cheers.

[TinGull 10]

The fastest machine to run MS Vista is a Mac......just something to think about.

[fxjaykay 10]

I use a MacBook Pro 17" with XP rolled on Parallels, this is my main machine since I do move around a lot, and it works just fine.

 

/J

[btfox 10]

I used trendsoft in the 90's and found them to be honest and helpful. I moved on when I began with live data. They do have a couple new products now, including a live data feed, if you are interested in looking at them...

 

http://www.trendsoft.com/

[timokrates 10]

I also think about switching and buying an apple.

 

What keeps me a bit away from the imac at the moment is the gradient issue specially the 20" version has. I tested it in the store and it was true. If you for example have a grey desktop background, the colour is darker in the upper left than in the bottom right corner.

 

At the moment I think about a mac mini with a nice eizo display. BTW, is it easy to use two displays with a mac mini or do you always need an adapter/switch?

 

Does someone have any experience with parallels and tradestation?

[fxjaykay 10]

I also think about switching and buying an apple.

 

What keeps me a bit away from the imac at the moment is the gradient issue specially the 20" version has. I tested it in the store and it was true. If you for example have a grey desktop background, the colour is darker in the upper left than in the bottom right corner.

 

At the moment I think about a mac mini with a nice eizo display. BTW, is it easy to use two displays with a mac mini or do you always need an adapter/switch?

 

Does someone have any experience with parallels and tradestation?

 

The Mac Mini is not really designed to be a workhorse. I have one for just surfing/music/watching movies, but I wouldn't use it for trading unless I had to. A Mac or PC with better specs (incl a graphics card with dedicated memory, rather than integrated graphics borrowing from the RAM capacity) would be commendable.

 

All trading platforms that I have tested on Xp on Parallels have worked just fine. I have not tried Tradestation, but from what I've heard, that one works as well. If you Google on "parallels tradestation" you'll find some on that subject. Anyhow - unless the Mac is powerful enough with enough RAM, you could have performance issues.

 

Best,

 

fxjaykay

[timokrates 10]

The Mac Mini is not really designed to be a workhorse. I have one for just surfing/music/watching movies, but I wouldn't use it for trading unless I had to. A Mac or PC with better specs (incl a graphics card with dedicated memory, rather than integrated graphics borrowing from the RAM capacity) would be commendable.

 

All trading platforms that I have tested on Xp on Parallels have worked just fine. I have not tried Tradestation, but from what I've heard, that one works as well. If you Google on "parallels tradestation" you'll find some on that subject. Anyhow - unless the Mac is powerful enough with enough RAM, you could have performance issues.

 

Best,

 

fxjaykay

 

Thanks fxjaykay,

 

good to know. Then, the imac remains, mac pro is a bit too expensive.

I think 2 gig ram should be minimum.

 

Still thinking if it's good to have an emulated (Parallels) trading software.

[johnnycakes78704 10]

There is another plus which no one has mentioned yet which is the lack of viruses for Mac's. No need for antivirus or anti-spyware so the computer does run quicker. If you are going to run parallels, you could do so and dedicate the windows side to just trading and install a firewall to prevent hacking. So long as you don't peruse some of the less scrupulous sites or download email attachments on the windows side, antivirus, to me at least, is not necessary.

 

So long as you can maintain strict discipline with your browsing habits you can get away with alot less.

 

If you so desire, the mac mini may work. It can be configured from Apple to come with 2GB of RAM. If you are only running trading software at the times you are trading and not applications that hog the memory, it should be more than adequate. I've been quite surprised with what my mini can do (photoshop and the like)

[elpepelucho 10]

I have run Tradestation on Parallels and it's fine. I would recommend running parallels in full screen mode since running in Coherence mode introduces a tiny bit of a graphics lag.

[jonbig04 10]

FWIW, I use a mac pro with dual monitors, one for parallels with windows and ninja, one with OSX for everything else. I hate windows, but at least I can be on OSX and use it only for ninja.

[elpepelucho 10]

Since when is it possible to connect 2 monitors to a macbook pro ? Or do you mean you use the built in monitor as one of the 2 ?

[jonbig04 10]

Mac pro, not macbook.

[eurotrader 10]

I have a Mac Pro with 4 monitors. I've run Parallels for sometime with both Genesis TradeNavigator and and eSignal. I can say using either across 3 monitors is absolute crap. Parallels runs ok with 2 monitors but anything more than that and performance degrades markedly with noticeable lag.

 

I have now switched over to Investor/RT using OS X with DTN.IQ for realtime datafeed. There is no comparison. The software blows eSignal and Genesis out of the water and no performance problems whatsoever across all 4 monitors. If you want to use your Mac and not want the hassle of Parallels I would recommend having a look at IRT.

 

If you want to stick to whatever Windows based software you are using you may want to have a look at VM Ware Fusion 2.0. The latest reports are indicating that it is superior to Parallels.

[klassej 10]

I have a Mac Pro (8 Core Xenon) with 14 GB RAM. I run Vista Business 64 bit using Boot Camp. It's incredibly fast...

[swansjr 10]

I trade on a Mac mini running WindowsXP (bootcamp) and TradeStation as my trading platform. No problems. Runs great and the mini fits well on a desk or hidden away.

[Harlequin 10]

I don't have an Apple but I noticed that Zeroline Trader now has an Mac OS X version available.

 

http://www.zerolinetrader.com/download/index.html

[klassej 10]

I should probably add that I have 2 Nvidia 8800 GT Gfx cards with 2 DVI connectors per card, currently I have 3 20" apple cinema displays hocked up. Made a mistake initially and got 2 different cards which Vista doesn't like at all so I had to get a new one and replace the ATI one that shipped with the Mac Pro. This is a limitation/feature in Vista... Now everything work really well though.

[eurotrader 10]

I run 4 19" monitors w/ DVI off my Mac Pro and as klassej mentions it is incredibly fast. I use Investor/RT for Mac on 3 monitors for all charting and it has been excellent. I run Windows XP on 1 monitor using VMWare Fusion 2.0 for my Photon Trade Platform. However, if you were using something like Zeroline Trader like Harlequin mentions, or the Mac version of Interactive Brokers trade platform, one wouldn't need to use an inferior OS like Windows at all.