Virtual desktops · Advanced plan
Data work
Datasets that do not sit comfortably in memory on a normal machine, and the tools that chew through them.
The point where the laptop gives up
A few million rows in a dataframe, a Power BI model that refreshes for ten minutes, a statistics package holding a dataset whole, an export that will not open in Excel at all. Data work is memory-bound before it is anything else, and the machine that runs out first is the one on the desk.
Advanced has twenty gigabytes of memory, sixteen virtual cores and a hundred-gigabyte data drive on top of the system drive. It is the largest desktop on the price list, and it is specified for exactly this.
What runs well on it
- Python, R and their notebooks, with datasets held in memory rather than paged.
- Power BI Desktop and Tableau Desktop with large models.
- A local database engine for staging and querying, alongside the tools that read from it.
- Long refreshes and long jobs that carry on after the browser tab is closed.
Storage
The data drive is a hundred gigabytes, separate from the eighty-gigabyte system drive so data files are not competing with Windows for space. Larger working sets are usually better kept on a network location or a cloud drive and pulled in as needed, and if your requirement is larger than a desktop should hold, a dedicated server is the right product.
The plan for this: Advanced
20 GB of memory, 16 virtual cores, 80 GB system drive and 100 GB data drive, for $49.95 a month, on a server-class host that keeps the desktop quick from any device. The other three packages are the same desktop with more or less memory and processing power.
Common questions
Is 20 GB of memory enough for my dataset?
It is the largest desktop we offer, and comfortably above what a normal laptop provides. If you know your working set is larger than that, a dedicated server is the right product and we can talk it through.
Can I install Python, R and the usual tools?
Yes. You have administrator rights, so anything that installs on Windows 11 installs on the desktop.
Does a long refresh keep running when I close the browser?
Yes. Disconnecting leaves the session running on the desktop. Sign back in from any device and the job is where you left it.
Start on Advanced this afternoon
Sign up, check your email, open the link. A fast Windows 11 desktop on a server-class host, with no contract and no minimum term, and support included around the clock.
