Jeff Su on DeepSeek: a historical guide to access choices
A February 2025 discussion of model categories, access choices and switching costs for everyday users.
What the lesson covers
Jeff Su’s written companion discusses model categories, hosted and local access, and the costs of switching tools. This is a February 2025 perspective for everyday users considering DeepSeek. Treat its comparisons as the creator’s historical analysis, not current product rankings or an independent test by CurioFuse.
Before trying local operation
For a local follow-up, LM Studio’s offline documentation distinguishes using downloaded models from obtaining them. Local chat and document processing can work without internet once model files are present. Searching for models, downloading them or runtimes, and checking for application updates use network connections. Obtain the necessary files before relying on offline operation.