MacBook Pro vs Surface Pro, which one is better choice for a grad student in stat?

[Stati]

I would appreciate any thoughts.

The point is,

1) Mac OS vs Windows, which system is better for a student in stat?

2) 8 Gen i5(quad-core) with 8GB Ram is enough to run, say R or python? (In general stat field)

[bayessays]

I know people who are super happy with both.  Think that you're going to be using R, maybe ssh'ing into a computing cluster at some point, writing LaTeX, maybe programming in Python or C depending on your research. In which environment would you personally feel most comfortable doing these things?

Since RAM is cheap, I would recommend getting the highest RAM possible to run R since it is memory intensive with big data sets. 

Edited February 19, 2019 by bayessays

[galois]

Alternatively, are there downsides to using Linux? I've been a software developer for a number of years, and at this point it would be very jarring to move back to Mac or Windows. I'm wondering if any of the common software is known to be a pain on linux.

[bayessays]

7 minutes ago, galois said:

Alternatively, are there downsides to using Linux? I've been a software developer for a number of years, and at this point it would be very jarring to move back to Mac or Windows. I'm wondering if any of the common software is known to be a pain on linux.

If you're going to a statistics program, you're probably good. If you're going biostat and need to use SAS, it might be a pain. I would stick with your Linux and deal with any unlikely problem if it comes up - unless you're going to a biostatistics program that forces you to use SAS and doesn't let you remotely access it, you won't encounter anything that will make you buy a new computer.

[jmillar]

1 hour ago, bayessays said:

If you're going to a statistics program, you're probably good. If you're going biostat and need to use SAS, it might be a pain. I would stick with your Linux and deal with any unlikely problem if it comes up - unless you're going to a biostatistics program that forces you to use SAS and doesn't let you remotely access it, you won't encounter anything that will make you buy a new computer.

Adding onto this, if you need to use SAS, and are not working with sensitive data, you can use SAS Studio for free online with an edu email: https://odamid.oda.sas.com/SASStudio/

[Stati]

On 2/20/2019 at 1:42 AM, bayessays said:

I know people who are super happy with both.  Think that you're going to be using R, maybe ssh'ing into a computing cluster at some point, writing LaTeX, maybe programming in Python or C depending on your research. In which environment would you personally feel most comfortable doing these things?

Since RAM is cheap, I would recommend getting the highest RAM possible to run R since it is memory intensive with big data sets. 

Thanks. Then, 16GB RAM would be better.

[dmacfour]

On 2/19/2019 at 10:17 AM, galois said:

Alternatively, are there downsides to using Linux? I've been a software developer for a number of years, and at this point it would be very jarring to move back to Mac or Windows. I'm wondering if any of the common software is known to be a pain on linux.

I installed Linux over winter break and haven't had a reason to boot Windows back up. The biggest annoyance I've encountered is that Adobe Acrobat and MS Office have no Linux support. Another annoyance is that Ubuntu doesn't have a tablet mode like Windows does. Not a problem if you're okay with open source alternatives. R seems to run a hell of a lot faster on Linux than it did on Windows. I would explore virtualizing Windows if you need it for a particular task. 

Edited March 6, 2019 by dmacfour

[Taheel]

One option if you want to have linux but also want the benefits of windows is the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). I used to have linux installed on my old laptop but when I got a new one I opted to try to keep windows installed and use the WSL. There was a bit of a learning curve, but if you're comfortable with linux then you should be able to figure it out relatively quick and easy. So far, it's been working really well and there hasn't been anything that I haven't been able to do with WSL.