Graphics Card and Ram for Stock Trading With Multiple Displays

Hello forum members. This is my first post here. Thanks for providing lots of great information!!! I am an old, retired guy looking to more actively trade stocks on a new multi display setup with a new laptop. I want to make certain that the new laptop that I order will fully support this activity --- that is stock trading using the laptop display plus two external displays. I am not a gamer.

I am aware of of good USB to DVI/VGA adapters, like the one from Diamond to hook up the second external display, and I am aware of programs like Ultramon and TaskBar to add task bars to each display, (if there isn’t a way to do it with Windows7 Home Premium). But what I can’t figure out is whether this activity, that is using a laptop display plus two external displays for stock trading and research on internet, requires anything special regarding the graphics card, Vram and regular ram. I have read elsewhere in these forums that stock trading does not require anything special in the way of a graphics card, that the integrated Intel graphics card is fine for stock trading programs, but none of the posters that I noticed inquiring about graphic cards for stock trading were using three or more displays.

I have spec'd the Dell Studio 15 laptop and HP DV6Tse 15.6 inch laptops that I am looking at with Win7 Home Premium, Intel i5 520 processor, 500GB 7200rpm hard drive and 4GB DDR3 ram. Here are the graphic cards that I have to choose from: Intel HD Graphics, Ati Radeon 5470 512MB, Ati Radeon 5470 1GB and Ati Radeon 5650 1GB. I will be running a couple of four year old 19 inch Dell external displays in addition to the laptop display. Are all of these graphic cards perfectly fine for stock trading and internet based research with three total displays? I am leaning towards the Ati 5470 512mb card on the HP. HP’s next choice up is the Ati 5650 1GB for $100 more. Do I need 1GB Vram, or is that only for gamers? The HP build says the Ati 5470 512mb has "switchable" graphics. The Dell has a choice for an ATI 5470 (1GB) as well, but Dell doesn't say anything about switchable graphics. Do you suppose all Ati 5470 cards are enabled with switchable graphics?

Regarding regular ram, for about $100 more, I can get 6GB of DDR3, 2dimm ram instead of 4GB DDR3, 2dimm ram, but I am not sure whether or not I need any extra ram to run the three displays. But it looks to me like that if I wanted to get 6GB later, that I would have to throw away the 4GB ram and start over, so maybe I should just get 6GB now. Other than stock trading and internet surfing research, I will use the laptop for Email, Word and Excel. But I will mainly be using a web based stock trading program, web based charting program and will be surfing internet for information on various companies on the three displays. I will likely keep the laptop for at least four years.

Thank you for any comments regarding required graphics card and ram for stock trading on multiple displays!

 

No need to spend top dollar on a laptop with a fancy display card.

Instead, buy a business-class notebook, one that has an available 'real' docking station that can hold real full-sized pcie video cards. You can get these from Dell, HP, and Lenovo.

Then go with a matrox or ati card video card (or two). Matrox is the long-standing king of multi card and multi-monitor layouts, their software is simply the best available.

You can get close to layouts like this with a laptop only and a usb video adapter or two, but it won't be as smooth or reliable as a real purpose designed hardware solution.

Let the quibbling begin.

 

The Dell Studio 1558 doesn't have switchable graphics. You can run a second display without any issue at all, but beyond that has more to do with the hardware you add, not the laptop itself. I haven't tried to use HDMI to run a third concurrent display, but I guess it's theoretically possible. If it works, it'd be a better option than a USB version.

You won't need more RAM to run more displays, but you might need it for the programs you use, depending on the amount of data you're dealing with. You'll need to check with the program's developer to know how the ram situation is.

Honestly, if I were you, I'd consider running off a desktop rather than a laptop to run that many stationary displays. There's much more flexibility with running displays off multiple PCI-E cards on a desktop than whatever's built into a laptop.

 

Thank you for your comments. I spend about one week out of every five weeks in another State, and need a new laptop anyway for these trips, so rather than getting both a new desktop and a new laptop and having to worry about syncing the two computers, I am electing to go with the laptop desktop replacement solution.

The reason I am not electing to go with the Quad Core i7 720 is that I have read that they run extremely hot in laptops, necessitating an always on loud fan, and that they really suck the power. I understand that the new i5 520 processors are very capable, run less hot and suck less power ---although I will be plugged in 99% of the time.

Thanks for the info about docking stations that have better capability than a USB to DVI adapator. I will look in to that. Thanks for the confirmation that the Ati 5470 card on the DELL does not have the switchable graphics enabled. And yes, both of the prospective new laptops have an HDMI port as well as a VGA port, so I might simply be able to run a HDMI to DVI cable to one of the external displays. I will try that first and see how it works before trying something more elaborate.