I can’t give you any Pole specific advice. I’ve never been there. It used to be in the summer if there was space available on a flight they would allow boondoggles that would put a Mcmurdo on a turnaround flight. You would fly down, get out, see the pole while the plane was being refueled and then fly back to Mcmurdo the same day.
Since they started building the new South Pole Station all the flights are full of cargo and there is no longer room for any of us.
I bring down a laptop, but winterovers have the advantage that they can put in for a dial up connection from their rooms. In the summer all the dial ups are reserved for science personnel. I don’t know about the pole but I would imagine it’s the same.
On the other hand, I take lots of digital photos and am just getting into digital moviemaking and use my laptop alot offline. If it were me I would bring mine down summer or winter. It is a lot of extra hassle trying to pack it in your carryon luggage. Also every airport now makes you open up your case and remove the computer for inspection. Still I would bring mine down.
mike