Hardware and Software Requirements for Python

THIS PAGE IS IN EDITION MODE

First of all, what you need to work Python is to have a laptop or computer, NOT a tablet or ipad. A hybrid such as Microsoft Surface is in a grey zone but to be on the safe side, please use a laptop or computer. Typing on a tablet and even with an external keyboard will slow you down,

Operating System

From the three options Windows, macOS or Linux, we consider only the first two. Linux users are regarded as self learners and they know what they are into.

Both Windows and macOS are suitable for working with Python, there are only specific and specialised differences. For beginners, there should not be a difference in choosing either one or the other, but for more advanced users, it depends on their personal needs and preferences.

Windows offer a wider variety of offers if you want to buy a laptop or PC. You can get a good price-quality device which can be upgraded with more ram, graphic card or disk space. MacOS devices are known for being quite expensive, even the base models, and they cannot be upgraded. However, apple devices are also known by their quality, computational power and reliability.

Processor

Apple devices offer great perfomance when working with python for data analysis. Any device with an apple sillicon chip M1, M2, M3 or M4 does a great job.

However, when coming to Windows devices, there are two major families: Intel and AMD. Snapdragon is emerging as a ARM architecture processor with comparable capabilities to the apple sillicon ones.

The intel core i3 is the minimum processor you should go with. If you have already one, and don’t want to upgrade it, it is fine for the beginning. However, it is recommended a intel core i5. Another important thing is that the processor should be from recent generations, i.e, 12th onwards. On the other hand, AMD has been a good competitor to intel and offers very good perfomance in cheaper devices. Similar to the intel core i3, the minimum recommended is the Ryzen 3, however, it is better to have the ryzen 5. Moreover, similar to intel generations, you should look for a Ryzen processor of recent Series (5000 or 7000).

Any device with an snapdragon is more than sufficient.

RAM-CPU

The RAM (Random Access Memory) is crucial in your data analysis task. People usually say that a 8 GB RAM is enough, however, as of 2024, applications are requiring more computational power especially those which perform Artificial Intelligence tasks. Therefore, a RAM of 16 should be the minimum in order to be able to work comfortably with Python while also running other parallel tasks on your computer.

VRAM-GPU

Normally the GPUs or graphical processing units are related to gaming or audiovisual professional tasks. Nonetheless, some data tasks require more power when dealing with certain models and bigger datasets.

Having a minimum amount of GPU cores, like in the case of Macbook airs with 8-10 GPU cores, ensures a smooth workflow with some demanding tasks.

Disk Space or Storage

Again, people would say that 256 GB SSD (Solid State Drive) of space in your computer is enough, however, as of 2024, applications are becoming heavier. Moreover, the tasks of data analysis and data scientists are evolving and they are involving to work with large language models locally.

Although at the beginning of your journey as a data analyst the importance of disk space may be irrelevant, over a time and as you progress you would require bigger datasets, to load more models, etc. It may sound crazy to you, but it could be the case that you will work with datasets containing hundreds or thousands of images, audio or video files.

So, the minimum space to have is 512 GB. Of course you can also use a external disk to back up your information.

The requirements of your device may not be that important at the beginning (in case of laptops and pc’s), but over time you need to be comfortable and efficient with your workflow. Having the minimum requirements will guarantee that. At the end, if you are buying a new device, you should consider the interrelation of these aspects: Operative System, Processor, RAM, Disk Space.

Moreover, it is better to have more computational capacity than the minimum because it will ensure a smooth workflow and also you won’t overload and overheat your device with some tasks. It is incredible how a laptop can overheat when running some machine learning algorithms.