Question Father needs laptop for day trading.

[Pavel Pokidaylo]

Hello all! My father is in need of a new laptop as his is ancient and dying. He'll be using the machine primarily for browsing and day trading. He was told that he needs a high end graphics card for day trading but I doubt that's accurate info. I believe he wants to use the laptops monitor and also 2 more monitors.

He asked me about this laptop and now I'm here asking the great Toms community. Would this laptop be good for him? Is it Overkill for his needs or perhaps he needs something beefier for day trading? Any info is appreciated! Thanks!!

Here's a link to the laptop.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2020-Acer-Nitro-5-15-6-FHD-Gaming-Laptop-Intel-i5-GTX-1650-32GB-RAM-1TB-SSD-/114314748018?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0

 

[Eximo]

Only reason to have a GPU would be for multiple displays, but a docking station will get you that.

Processing isn't really done on his end, so it doesn't need to be powerful. Memory amount is good though, likely to have lots browser tabs open.

I'd say a late model i7 with Intel HD750, 32GB of memory, and a thunderbolt docking station would cover it, rather than a gaming system. (i7 is overkill really, but you are likely to get a higher quality unit by looking at higher end parts)

 

[Pavel Pokidaylo]

Only reason to have a GPU would be for multiple displays, but a docking station will get you that.

Processing isn't really done on his end, so it doesn't need to be powerful. Memory amount is good though, likely to have lots browser tabs open.

I'd say a late model i7 with Intel HD750, 32GB of memory, and a thunderbolt docking station would cover it, rather than a gaming system. (i7 is overkill really, but you are likely to get a higher quality unit by looking at higher end parts)

Thank you for the reply. Would an i5 suffice you think? Or one of the weaker Ryzens? Sorry I don't know the names. I'll let him know to opt for 32GB though and tell him about the docking station.

 

[Eximo]

Certainly, but the reason to go higher end is to get things like thunderbolt. Sadly a few months/year away from widespread USB4 adoption, thunderbolt is the next best thing.

 

[Bob.B]

Hello all! My father is in need of a new laptop as his is ancient and dying. He'll be using the machine primarily for browsing and day trading. He was told that he needs a high end graphics card for day trading but I doubt that's accurate info. I believe he wants to use the laptops monitor and also 2 more monitors.

He asked me about this laptop and now I'm here asking the great Toms community. Would this laptop be good for him? Is it Overkill for his needs or perhaps he needs something beefier for day trading? Any info is appreciated! Thanks!!

Here's a link to the laptop.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2020-Acer-Nitro-5-15-6-FHD-Gaming-Laptop-Intel-i5-GTX-1650-32GB-RAM-1TB-SSD-/114314748018?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0

Day trading reqs can be all over the map depending on how deep you want to go with it.
What pc does dad have now and what does not work to his liking?

 

[DalaiLuke]

Unless your father is willing to put in 5-7 years (or more) learning how to day trade, he'll most likely lose all of his monty. Day Trading is fools gold. I've personally witnessed dozens of friends and others try, perhaps succeed for a bit, but ultimately lose every cent they invested in day trading. Okay, having said that... if he wants to carry on, the key ingredient is a UHD screen. Those extra pixels allow him to see far more detail on multiple charts. So, for example, instead of seeing only the last 100 "candles" he'll be looking at the last 400 on the same sized window. That additional "forest for the trees" perspective is critical to making better decisions. I'm not sure what graphics card is needed to support a 4K screen, but if it's his full-time game, then spending the extra $500 USD to get the better system - amortized over a couple of years - is well worth it.

 

[Eximo]

Intel's latest should do 3 x 4K displays. (Assuming the laptop is 4K)