I'm doing a master's degree in computer science, and I'm currently at the point where I have to decide between the thesis and non-thesis options offered by my university. The thesis option was my first choice, it entails taking less courses but tends to take more time doing your thesis. The non-thesis option involves taking more coursework, taking a comprehensive exam, and doing a project in one semester with a faculty member.

I'd like to pursue a PhD degree eventually (although not right away, I want to get some years of professional experience first), and I heard that having demonstrated the ability to work on a thesis helps a lot with admission (like: not doing thesis raises questions and suggests not being interested in research) and that the experience itself is very good. At the same time, almost everyone I know who did a thesis at my university took a long time (2-3 years), in theory it could be done in 1.5 years. I'm a part time student and I don't really want to spend so much time just getting a master's degree, I could still publish a few papers while working on the project option and I'd be done in a year or so, additionally, I heard having a master's degree with a project and more coursework is more desirable for the industry.

So, when applying for a PhD degree in CS at some of the better universities, would the time spent working on the master's thesis help in getting me accepted? Or should I opt for the non-thesis option and hope that the extra coursework and publishing some papers would make up for not working on a thesis?