Best Mac for developing iOS apps

veganrun

I want to buy a Mac laptop with the main aim being to develop iOS apps as well as Android. I was looking at a Macbook air but have been slightly put off by reports it contains out of date tech and that apple are probably going to discontinue them?

The Macbook Pro has a slightly higher spec and Retina display but don't know if it's worth there extra cash (about 450 extra).

Anyone else here develop on a Mac laptop? What do you have and how do you find it?

jester77

Do you have an external monitor?

Otherwise the air will be a very poor experience while trying to work in an IDE.

veganrun

Unfortunately not. I thought about a Mac mini but I don't have a monitor or anything to use with it.

Would a 13" Macbook Pro have a better display for developing? It would be the same size as the Air

jester77

I wouldn't like to develop with a non-retina laptop. I've a 13 inch retina and developing even feels cramped on that one when not connected to a monitor.

BlackWizard

You would really need a monitor. If you're paying quite a bit for a Mac why not splash out for a 100 euro monitor too?

veganrun

BlackWizard wrote: »

You would really need a monitor. If you're paying quite a bit for a Mac why not splash out for a 100 euro monitor too?

Do you mean buy a monitor to use with the laptop or a monitor to use with the Mac mini? I thought you had to have one if those big expensive Apple monitors to use with a Mac mini or laptop?

BlackWizard

http://www.apple.com/uk/mac-mini/specs/

Scroll down to the image. You will see the back of the mac mini showing a lot of ports.

You will have to buy a cable to go from one of them ports (HDMI, DisplayPort) to your monitor. It's very easy.

This monitor would work http://www.pcworld.ie/Product/aoc-e2270swhn-full-hd-215-led-monitor/330287/397.1.0

But if you want to buy a decent one, do some research and probably buy from Amazon

counterpointaud

13" Macbook Pro Retina (last generation, not the new one with the touch strip thingy) is the best bet IMO. Fast, solid build, great trackpad, good battery life. Pleasant to work on for long periods and light enough for travel.

BlackWizard

I'm not sure he would be comfortable doing dev work on a 13" monitor regardless of the pixel density. Besides that, great machine.

Creamy Goodness

I've a 15" MacBook Pro and a 13" MacBook Air.

Even with the 15" you need a spare monitor. The 13" air you'd need to be only doing small bug fixes / code reviews.

veganrun

Thanks for the replies. I'm still learning towards either the Macbook Air or Pro as I want the option to be mobile. Having said that, if I do go for one of them, I might invest in an external monitor too.

Creamy Goodness

The Pro is light enough to carry around tbh, it's my work machine and has followed me to Australia, America, Brazil in the space of 6 months. The new pro's are even lighter.

The Air is the best notebook I've ever owned (mine's 6 years old at this point), but it isn't the most future proof purchase at the moment and I don't see Apple updating it anytime soon seeing as they have the MacBook 12" and two MacBook Pro 13" models along with the 15" model.

counterpointaud

BlackWizard wrote: »

I'm not sure he would be comfortable doing dev work on a 13" monitor regardless of the pixel density. Besides that, great machine.

You may be right, and this was also what I thought before I started using it, but FWIW I only use an external monitor now when I need to for layout stuff. I don't have very good eyesight, and have had 15" windows laptops in the past that I felt were too small, but something about the MBP display is very easy on the eyes, even when using it in non-retina mode.

punk_one82

I use a 13" Macbook Pro and find it great. I bought it refurbished from Apple a few months ago, the 2015 model. I've nowhere to put an external monitor permanently at the minute but plan on getting one when I can. Not finding it too difficult to develop without one using multiple virtual desktops. Granted it's not the ideal solution, but it's definitely not a major hindrance. I'd say go with the pro. It definitely looks like the Air's will be discontinued soon.

Check the refurbished store, you could get a bargain in comparison.

14ned

veganrun wrote: »

I want to buy a Mac laptop with the main aim being to develop iOS apps as well as Android. I was looking at a Macbook air but have been slightly put off by reports it contains out of date tech and that apple are probably going to discontinue them?

The Macbook Pro has a slightly higher spec and Retina display but don't know if it's worth there extra cash (about 450 extra).

Anyone else here develop on a Mac laptop? What do you have and how do you find it?

I'm currently typing this on a late 2016 Macbook Pro 13 and it was bought mainly for C++ development in Windows (yes, yes I know).

I'd definitely advise you choose the previous generation of Macbook. If you're web browsing you can hit eight hours battery life, if you're running a compiler regularly it's less than four hours. Big, big drop over the previous generation. The lack of Magsafe power is also a pain, this is a very light laptop, very easy to whisk across the room due to someone snagging a cable.

If budget is an issue, I'd strongly recommend buying second hand the very first Retina display Macbook Pro and replacing its battery which Apple will do for 150 euro or so. You get 80% of the latest MBP at half the price.

As for whether a MBP 13 or 15 ... some swear by either and think the other camp clearly deranged. I'd say to you go for what your budget allows. So long as it's Retina display you can adjust the detail fit onto the screen up or down as needed which is okay if you have young, nimble eyes. I've been doing hefty C++ development on my 13 and it's absolutely fine, reasonably nippy, but other programming languages make better use of more CPU cores during dev than C++ compilers do.

Niall

Talisman

I have a 15" Mid-2012 MBP with the Matte screen - I absolutely hate the reflective shiny screens. The laptop is connected to a rotated 24" monitor which gives me an additional 1200 x 1920 pixel portrait display.

The quad-core i7 processor is a big upgrade from the dual-core i5 in the 13" models. In my experience there was a noticeable performance dip when using a Java hog like one of the IntelliJ IDEs and having browsers running on a dual-core i5 system.

Personally I don't see the point on spending money on the new models, the technology doesn't warrant the premium prices. One of the benefits of the older models is that they are customisable. The RAM in mine has been upgraded to 16GB, the HDD was replaced with a nice SSD and the optical drive was replaced with another SSD.

I haven't upgraded the OS in a couple of years because everything has been solid but Docker informed this week that I'll need to upgrade to El Capitan/Sierra to install future updates.

You can pick up one of these old models for around €1000-1200 and it will serve you well, you might need to replace the battery but that's not a big deal.

If buying an old second hand model doesn't interest you then keep an eye on the refurbished store: http://www.apple.com/ie/shop/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/
You'll pick up 2016 MBP models for around the same money as the higher spec 2017 MB.

veganrun

Think I've decided. Will go for a 15" refurbed MBP if I can get one at a decent price. If not, then a 13" MBP but not one with the fancy touch bar thing.

Just need the money is all now!