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Trading Forex on MBA vs MBP

nlr

nlr

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 27, 2010
457
1
London
Hello,

I trade the financial markets for a living so I look at the charts everyday. Right now I am using the Macbook Air and I was wondering if I upgraded to the Macbook Pro Retina would I be able to see more on my screen, browser, apps vs my current Macbook Air? Would there be a significant difference?

This is how my Macbook Air screen looks currently. What difference would the Macbook Pro Retina make?

bDv20IP.png


Thank you.
 
Well, yeah, because the resolution on the MBA 13 is 1440 by 900 and the MBP 13 is 2560 by 1600. That is like twice the pixels so you have twice the screen estate, however, everything will look smaller.
 
azure247 said:
Well, yeah, because the resolution on the MBA 13 is 1440 by 900 and the MBP 13 is 2560 by 1600. That is like twice the pixels so you have twice the screen estate, however, everything will look smaller.
Click to expand...

No it is not double screen estate, it is simply 2x assets. If anything rMBP will have less estate due to being 2x 1280x800. However you can set it to output 1680x1050, which is slightly more.

If it were up to me I would go with a 15" rMBP at 1920x1200 max (default 2x 1440x900 / 2880x1800).
 
Unless you feel like hacking you're only going to get 1920x1200 out of the 15".It's a lot of space plus 16:10 instead of 16:9 (1920x1080)... More vertical height!

How the graphs look on the screen will depend on how well the application scales. I'm finding OS X scaling is pretty good compared to Windows....
 
steveyo said:
Unless you feel like hacking you're only going to get 1920x1200 out of the 15".It's a lot of space plus 16:10 instead of 16:9 (1920x1080)... More vertical height!

How the graphs look on the screen will depend on how well the application scales. I'm finding OS X scaling is pretty good compared to Windows....
Click to expand...

The platform I am using to view the graphs is web based so I am using Google Chrome. I don't know if that makes a difference.
 
Unless you do your trading while on the move, I think you will get much more benefit for less money by getting a big external monitor.
 
nlr said:
What one do you recommend I get the 13" or 15"? Do you know if there is a difference between Safari and Chrome on Retina? Thank you.
Click to expand...

I chose the 15" because the 13" was too small, YUP too small!

I was expecting Safari to be like internet explorer for Windows but it's my go to browser for OS X now. I had horrid battery life using chrome and firefox.
 
Rigby said:
Unless you do your trading while on the move, I think you will get much more benefit for less money by getting a big external monitor.
Click to expand...

Yes I travel regularly thats one of reason I decided to become a trader as it allows me to have a flexible life. I could also choose the Dell XPS 13 with 3200x1800 I just really don't know what to pick. My current setup (13" MBA) is fine I just wanted to view as much of the chart on my laptop as I can and I assume that's all about the resolution right?
 
nlr said:
Yes I travel regularly thats one of reason I decided to become a trader as it allows me to have a flexible life. I could also choose the Dell XPS 13 with 3200x1800 I just really don't know what to pick. My current setup (13" MBA) is fine I just wanted to view as much of the chart on my laptop as I can and I assume that's all about the resolution right?
Click to expand...

I don't recommend you run 3200 x 1800 on a 13" at native scale, everything will be too TINY but if you scale it too much things will look too big.
http://winsupersite.com/windows-8/hands-windows-81-desktop-display-scaling
 
nlr said:
Yes I travel regularly thats one of reason I decided to become a trader as it allows me to have a flexible life. I could also choose the Dell XPS 13 with 3200x1800 I just really don't know what to pick. My current setup (13" MBA) is fine I just wanted to view as much of the chart on my laptop as I can and I assume that's all about the resolution right?
Click to expand...
I'd suggest you try it in a store somewhere where you can browse the web and display some trading charts. You will not see more, but the rendering of text and fine graphics will look sharper. So the image will look more pleasant, but I don't think you will gain anything from a functional perspective.

Also keep in mind that the MBP is thicker and heavier. Even though the difference may look small on paper, it is noticeable when traveling. I keep my MBA 11" around for that purpose even though I also have an MPB 13".
 
Rigby said:
I'd suggest you try it in a store somewhere where you can browse the web and display some trading charts. You will not see more, but the rendering of text and fine graphics will look sharper. So the image will look more pleasant, but I don't think you will gain anything from a functional perspective.

Also keep in mind that the MBP is thicker and heavier. Even though the difference may look small on paper, it is noticeable when traveling. I keep my MBA 11" around for that purpose even though I also have an MPB 13".
Click to expand...

Good idea I'll definitely give that a go and see how it looks in person. I might also dabble in graphics and web developing. Do you think the MBP Retina i5 is still appropriate?
 
nlr said:
Good idea I'll definitely give that a go and see how it looks in person. I might also dabble in graphics and web developing. Do you think the MBP Retina i5 is still appropriate?
Click to expand...

Any computer currently sold by Apple will be appropriate for these tasks. Even the fanless 12" would still be appropriate, unless you are going to edit super-high-res photos in Photoshop with dozens of layers.
 
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