I just got a new computer with Vista (Business) on it. I had some
problems installing Stata 10 on the machine - partly there were
incompatibilities with the operating system, but a call to tech-support
got it fixed. The other part of the problems were caused by my
inverting two letters in the code to unlock Stata - I'd like to blame
someone else, but I can't. Anyway, huge compliments to Kevin Crow of
Stata
Tony
Peter A. Lachenbruch
Department of Public Health
Oregon State University
Corvallis, OR 97330
Phone: 541-737-3832
FAX: 541-737-4001
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of David Kantor
Sent: Thursday, October 02, 2008 1:51 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: st: Best laptop specifications to run version 9.0 and 10
At 03:45 PM 10/2/2008, Adrian wrote:
>[...]
>
>I want to know what are the best specifications for a laptop in
>order to run Stata with a big dataset, that keeps growing. I am not
>doing a lot of statistical simualtions, but from time to time need
>to run some marginal effects for logits/ probits and when I RESHAPE
>some of the databases, it takes over 20 minutes in my current laptop
>(over 3 years old).
>
>One of the main issues i am facing in my current laptop, is that if
>keeping other applications running (excel, or outlook) makes stata
>to fail to save files back in my hardisk
>
>Laptop is important because I telecomute and mobility is a plus. I
>guess the question can be framed as what is more important RAM
>versus proccessor speed? Or AMD versus Intel processors? Speed of
hard disk?
>
>is there any other configuration specification that I am overlooking?
>
>I you have bought a new laptop recently to run stata, i appreciate
>if you can let me know the particular specs and budget
>
>thanks
>
>Adrian
Let me step around your question. When you experience these episodes
of slow performance, you might be using virtual memory. If so, then a
memory upgrade may be what you need, rather than a whole new
computer. Generally a memory upgrade can significantly improve
performance in many situations, and is much more economical than
getting a new computer.
You said that the presence of other applications causes Stata to fail
to do certain things. That shouldn't happen; it might slow thing down
to a crawl, but it shouldn't cause any other effects within Stata. If
that's really happening, I'd call it an operating system problem.
On the other hand, when I need to use large amount of memory, I'm
inclined to close down all those other applications (and run only one
instance of Stata) -- to avoid those problems.
If you do get a new computer, and if you run procedures that involve
a lot of temp files (e.g., -reshape-), then you may want to go for a
fast hard drive.
If you do get a new computer, and it's a PC, you may be forced into
getting Vista, which some people find to be a disadvantage. That's a
whole other story.
HTH
--David
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