Computer Gurus - Help

[RiverRat1]

This river rat is needing a good computer. It will be used mainly for trading stocks while surfing the web. No gaming. I'm leaning towards a good laptop right now but will also want a good desktop in 6-8 months.

IMO buying a new computer is worse than buying a new truck!

Would dropping the extra money on a Mac be worth it in the long run? Do they last longer, get less virus and bugs etc? I was looking at a Mac Book Pro and it was like $3,500

Do computers come with needed software these days? I know long ago after I bought one I then had to buy Word and other crap. Now I use Google Docs so Word isn't needed but still asking because who knows LOL

[Monark]

Not a compter guru but I needed a new home laptop last month but didn't want to break the bank. I bought a refurbished Dell when they had a 50% off sale. Got a good computer for about $400. It came loaded with Windows 10. I had a Microsoft Office account so I just moved it to the new computer. I have learned to get the Solid State Hard Drive vs. the old mechanical hard drives. Much faster. It looks & acts like a new compuetr.

[RWB]

I have been in the PC industry for 25 years. In my opinion for what your doing any good quality middle of the road spec laptop or desktop will do more than you need. To me your wasting money on a mac unless you need it for some specific creation software. Go to Walmart or bestbuy and buy a Dell, HP or Lenovo. Something in the 400 to 600 range will have more capability than you will ever need.

[rut-ro]

We got my daughter a surface pro for school. It was way more than she needs but it handles everything and really fast

[Mike D]

This river rat is needing a good computer. It will be used mainly for trading stocks while surfing the web. No gaming. I'm leaning towards a good laptop right now but will also want a good desktop in 6-8 months.



IMO buying a new computer is worse than buying a new truck!



Would dropping the extra money on a Mac be worth it in the long run? Do they last longer, get less virus and bugs etc? I was looking at a Mac Book Pro and it was like $3,500



Do computers come with needed software these days? I know long ago after I bought one I then had to buy Word and other crap. Now I use Google Docs so Word isn't needed but still asking because who knows LOL

My 2011 MacBook Pro died recently, motherboard failure. So my experience says they do last longer than most PCs.

In that time I never had and issues with viruses, bugs, etc......

I did have to buy extra software to run a few Windows based programs and there is a learning curve.

I need to buy another one but am having a hard time justifying the price though.


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[hopedale]

If you're trading online, and only surf the internet, you won't need much in terms of hardware. So, IMO, a MAC would be over kill.

I'd set a budget of $500 which should get you a laptop that will last a while.

https://www.officedepot.com/a/products/6173858/Dell-Latitude-5480-Ultrabook-Laptop14-Screen/

https://www.officedepot.com/a/products/9029861/HP-255-G7-156-Notebook-HD/

[RiverRat1]

I'm not looking for cheap. And maybe all computers suck. The newer one I have now freezes up once in a while (like 2 times a day for 5-10 seconds). Plus it does other small irritating things like jumps when typing and starts up on another already written line. Not often but still sucks.

My trading is online but it's through a program installed on my computer. It takes some space and memory for sure as it's always streaming tons of data.

[CSanders]

I ran through 4 dell laptops from 2006 to 2015. All ended up with a virus and would end up almost unusable. All they were ever used for was my wife’s college work, email and paying bills. I broke down and bought a Mac in 19 and haven’t had a single issue since then just my opinion but I wouldn’t touch a dell or anything else. I have think or swim on my Mac and it doesn’t give me any issues either.

[Davoh]

Offering my advice, from 20 years in the IT industry, and having run everything from mac to windows to linux as my daily driver.

Would dropping the extra money on a Mac be worth it in the long run? Do they last longer, get less virus and bugs etc? I was looking at a Mac Book Pro and it was like $3,500

IMHO, absolutely. There ARE virus' out there for MacOS. However, they'll only install if you tell them to(seriously). They will be more performant, for longer. Yes you can spend 400-600 on a "middle of the road" windows laptop. But you'll be begging for an upgrade in 2-3 years.

My wife's 2010 macbook pro finally had to be replaced, but not because of any failure. The latest OS to support it finally stopped getting security updates.

That said, you do not need a macbook pro, unless you are doing video editing or something else that requires a ton of power. For your stated use case, I would strongly recommend a macbook air($700ish base model), with a good 4k or ultrawide monitor, and an external hard drive(like a WD MyCloud) for long term storage(pictures, old documents etc). This is what we set my wife up with, and she is super pleased with it.

Honestly, you can't build a desktop for the same price as an MBA, that has the same performance. PC Parts are on a huge shortage right now(graphics cards are selling for 1.5-2 times their MSRP, when/if you can get them), especially for the better CPU's out there. (Ryzen 5000 series is an absolute monster)

Do computers come with needed software these days? I know long ago after I bought one I then had to buy Word and other crap. Now I use Google Docs so Word isn't needed but still asking because who knows LOL

If you're in the Google ecosystem, no need to buy any additional software.

[Davoh]

I'm not looking for cheap. And maybe all computers suck. The newer one I have now freezes up once in a while (like 2 times a day for 5-10 seconds). Plus it does other small irritating things like jumps when typing and starts up on another already written line. Not often but still sucks.

My trading is online but it's through a program installed on my computer. It takes some space and memory for sure as it's always streaming tons of data.

Those freezes can cost you a bunch of money, if you're trading stocks with it.

If you're considering a macbook air(not pro, see previous post), you need to make sure the software you use can be run on MacOS. If not, you may need to look into using parallels, or VMWare Fusion, to run a VM of windows so you can run the stock software.

[Blitz]

I would get a Dell laptop and invest in a docking station as well. Then you can utilize a full size monitor along with a keyboard and mouse. This will eliminate the need for a 2nd computer.

[KLAPPER]

I just bought a new MacBook pro 13" for around 1300 from bestbuy in my opinion they are far superior

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[Charles]

How many monitors are you using? How many applications do you typically have running at the same time?

[RiverRat1]

I want just one monitor for this laptop. I run the trading platform (it's large streaming) and usually Firefox with +/- 5 windows open (Twitter, TBH, Finance (yahoo or google), E-trade web-based, plus whatever I'm currently researching/reading.

The laptop will go with the wife and I on road trips starting this summer. Hopefully will be putting the Mofi to test and it works LOL

Not sure if the 13" monitor would be large enough. But the Mac Pro price jumps so high I may be looking at a Dell like this one.

https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/dell-g7-17-gaming-laptop/spd/g-series-17-7700-laptop/gn7700ehzmh?gacd=9614064-1012-5761040-266794588-0&dgc=st&ds_rl=1291002&gclid=Cj0KCQiAmfmABhCHARIsACwPRAB-AVa7q4GxV9efItcQeV1nR9-NLzZSanExStQZJBcxRLHI2u0_l24aAsV6EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

[Charles]

My laptops has similar specs to the one in your link except mines an HP Omen.

I usually have think or swim, web browser, email, softphone app, Quickbooks online, opened and running all the time and don't miss a beat.

In summary, that dell should server you well.