Alli, tks for d elaboration. AK opine that if u hv a system for 3yrs plus, not cost effective to do system upgrade, esp d hardware. As currently computer in d market is cheap n good, getting a new one to have no hassle,at least for d first yr, on site maint guarantee, subsequent free service at service centres.

At most of d computer outlets, u can ask for live demo, ie u login your broking hse, SGX web site etc on d system u indented to buy. Satisfied then buy loh.

computer speed depends much on hardware speed. Bus speed, CPU speed, RAM size and speed, Harddisk speed and size, Win OS , IE/firefox all combined to determine overall speed.

If you  have a 2.4G CPU with 4G RAM , even Win Vista will run so fast that you would not complain. SGX new website load in 2-5 seconds.

I am not sure of your COMPAQ machine, however if the hardware spec is too low, it would not run well with vista ( vista need a lot more memory to load and run than Win XP). So to improve its speed you need to consider either increase the RAM to its maximum , or simply re-install OS to win xp.

Recently owing to SGX new website, I re-install a old machine, just Pentium 1.6G with 1 G Ram with Win XP and firefox, throw away all other softwares. After reinstall WIn XP, the machine is very fast to view SGX website. response is just a few seconds on most commonly views things like all-in-one, corporate distribution and so on.

Oh, sorry, d 3 Mhz is d bandwidth of d home telephony mthly fixed rate plan, come with broadband modem during installation. A normal home telephone line is about $ 29 for 3 mths.

Any phone line plan higher than d normal home telephone line plan is called Broadband on Mobile which allows view video clips online(just like cable TV, Starhup), faster and smoother on web browsing n emailing, etc. Best your 3G hp with 3.5G / HSDPA enable device can use remote lan to access internet every corner in spore. I not try Tekong n Ubin yet.

Not sure wat u meant 60hz on computer. I presume u mention computer speed, CPU. OK lets using a layman term on computer system to optimise data processing n interfacing with other application, ie imaging, web browsing etc. If u r now having MS Windows xp, its fine for home usage liao, less d pro n con mentioned above. If u r still holding Windows 2000 n below, its not adequate for data processing under d current fast moving IT. Up grade to d current system may hv great help. Current system is MS Windows Vista, its much better than xp. Dwell n Accer offer reasonable px now, if u missed d last computer fare.  

Most important is d service platform is user friendly, efficient n effective and wat u want they hv it. But not easy to hv a single broking hse to hv 100% of that. However, u may compromise d various broking hse shorting comings by opening 3 or even 4 online broking hse account,  with below line-up:

1st-show real time Index only. For those system hang quite often.

2nd-toggle to show stock px, be it top active, gain n loss. For normal platform, but a bit slow.

3rd-ready to place order. For those hv immediate pop up screen within a sec once your transaction was filled, get away d hassle to sw screen to view d order status. Is a bonus if there is also email prompting for transaction done. It serves as a receipt as well.

4th-access regional online trading, ie Bursa or  HSI. For NYSE, no issue as it was at nite.

To work on d above 4, subcribe line bandwidth must be at least 3Mhz n above in order to hv a smooth data pooling n display.

Cheers. 

Hi LauLan

Saw your post you are using citibank.  Is citibank's US trade 'streamlined' ?  Brokerage expensive?  Tks.

Hi All - What criteria will you consider when choosing a brokerage company? Tks in advance your view!

When choosing  brokerage, do you guys consider its 'reliability' in terms of company's background and stability over its trouble free trading on-line platform?