>Setting up machine on AWS is more complicated than locally, and requires some admin skills. There are tons of guides online where you can learn how to do so i

>Setting up machine on AWS is more complicated than locally, and requires some admin skills. There are tons of guides online where you can learn how to do so in <5 mins. Setting up the computer by yourself is more complicated I would say, and would take a first timer days rather than hours. >If you use spot instances, you need to handle checkpointing Again, not a big deal to learn. >The goal of a person who starts working with deep learning is to learn deep learning, not how to setup machines, manage them, work with checkpoints, etc. I mean, if you're buying a GPU and setting it up, you're more than likely assembling the computer by yourself. You'll also have to maintain it properly. Then you'll have to look for correct drivers and other software which can get frustrating (it did for me). On the other hand, I just could use a step by step process for the AWS instances since they had a few specific types of GPUs and I didn't have to even think, just copy/paste the commands from the webpage to the terminal. There are even AMIs which setup everything for you, which would require even less effort, but I don't trust them so I go with a clean disk. Moreover, learning how to use AWS is a much more valuable skill than putting together computers so time well invested I would say.