As editor of Traders World magazine, I keep traders up-to-date with the latest hardware for trading the financial markets. Many new hardware products have recently come to the market that make life easier for the trader. What follows are descriptions of some of them.

Narrow Bezel Flat-Panel Monitors
Samsung and Eizo have just released their narrow bezel flat-panel digital monitors designed for the financial markets. They come in sizes up to 19 inches. The screens are extremely bright with high contrast and consume little energy. They have no flicker or radiation and are easy on the eyes. The narrow bezel (the edge of the screen) is only .7 of an inch. This means, in a multi-monitor situation, they can be stacked next to each other or on top of each other with almost no space between the screens.

Hard Disk Drives
New 7200-RPM hard disk drives have been introduced to the markets that emit one-quarter of the noise of traditional drives. Fluid has replaced the internal ball bearings, allowing them to run more quietly, generate less heat and last an estimated 500,000 hours instead of the normal 300,000 hours.

Processor Chips and Video Cards
The new Intel Pentium 4 processor chip manufactured with the advanced 0.13-micron process and 512K L2 cache is one of the fastest processor chips ever produced. The smaller chip size also means the computer generates less heat.

The new Appian Rushmore video card with output for 4 monitors also just came out. It runs on ATI's Radeon graphic chips, which are smaller and faster. This video card is a must for any serious trader who needs multiple monitors.

Power Supply
A new whisper-quiet power supply for computers was just released with almost no output noise and a much lower temperature output. It runs at variable speeds based on the heat within the computer. Therefore, if one purchases all the new hardware talked about in this article for his/her trading workstation, the power supply's fan will run at a lower speed and much more quietly.

"Insurance" against Failures
A new 2-channel raid card just released for traders allows for an automatic constant backup of a trader's complete system. The raid card connects to hard disk 1 and hard disk 2. The second drive maintains a constant mirror image of drive 1. If hard disk 1 fails, drive 2 takes over immediately and becomes the main drive.

A new dual-port Ethernet card allows for a switchover of data inflows from one port to the other. This is handy if one Internet service provider should experience a failure. The computer can easily be switched over to another Internet service provider with just a click of the mouse.

For more information, go to www.tradersworld.com. Larry Jacobs' articles also appear in Traders World magazine, and he can be contacted via email at publisher@tradersworld.com.