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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