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2GB memory for developing iOS apps

R

rirawan

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 2, 2008
7
0
Hi,

First of all sorry if this has been asked over and over again, i did tried to search the forum but can't find the answer i want :)

It's impossible for me to get a BTO macbook air where i live in a short time, so if i want to buy now i can only get the standard models. My current plan with the MBA are:
1. Develop iOS apps
2. Browsing the web moderately and do small office app
3. Occasionally use paralles/vmware to run IE for those IE-only-websites

So based on those usages, should I get :
1. 11" 128 SDD 2GB RAM or,
2. 13" 128 SDD 2GB RAM or,
3. Wait until i can get a BTO with 4GB RAM

any comments/inputs are really appreciated

thank you for your time :D
 
2

2IS

macrumors 68030
Jan 9, 2011
2,938
433
I don't know much about IOS development or it's requirements, but I do know virtual machines are going to need a lot of RAM if you want to run them with acceptable performance. The extra few days of waiting for a BTO with 4GB is going to be well worth it.
 
D

Detrias

macrumors member
Jan 11, 2011
68
0
I was pretty much on that same boat as u are and to be honest is completely worth the wait. I got 2 friends who went with the base models and they regret not waiting like i did. I mean after all is not something u can decide to "fix" down the road, once u pick 2GB u gotta live with that decision. Also the 13 i find is the way to go unless u are not gonna be doing much on the road, but either 13 or 11 i recommend to buy an external monitor for your work station.
 
BeyondtheTech

BeyondtheTech

macrumors 68020
Jun 20, 2007
2,146
715
I couldn't spring for the extra cost at the time, but I am developing iOS games on my base 11.6" Air (2GB/1.4GHz/64GB SSD) using Xcode, GameSalad, and Corona SDK. All of the apps have been working great with no complaints, even with other apps in the background that I use for image editing, text editors, etc. Because developing does read/write a lot of small files more excessively than standard use, it supposedly can wear the SSD drive down or shorten its lifespan. They recommend using an flash drive or USB hard drive to work off of.

If I ever get too cramped with the 2GB, I'll simply hand it off to my wife and get the next gen or one with larger specs.
 
R

rirawan

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 2, 2008
7
0
thank you all for your replies

I should elaborate more about getting a BTO where i live, currently the online apple store is temporary not selling macs due to some customs problems and the reseller only have the standard model. The apple phone support also can't predict when they can start selling macs again. So it could be a long time (i've been waiting for about 1 month) before i can order a BTO macbook air.

I kinda needed the MBA quite soon and i plan to use it for iOS development (i don't have any iOS developing experience), do you guys thinks is still worth the wait for the 4GB RAM?

thanks again
 
W

wisty

macrumors regular
Feb 18, 2009
219
0
What's your weekly salary?

You might lose a week's pay waiting for the new machine. You can buy a new 2G machine, get started immediately, then sell it for >70% (I hope) if you decide to switch to a 4G machine. Or you could give the old one away.

You could also prototype your app on a Windows machine. You can learn Objective C on Windows, but the libraries will be a bit different. That would mean your time waiting isn't entirely wasted.
 
F

firewood

macrumors G3
Jul 29, 2003
8,108
1,345
Silicon Valley
For basic iOS development a 2GB Air will work just fine.

4GB might be indicated if you plan on doing a lot of video editing or running big VM's for linux or vista.
 
R

rirawan

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 2, 2008
7
0
BeyondtheTech said:
<snip>
If I ever get too cramped with the 2GB, I'll simply hand it off to my wife and get the next gen or one with larger specs.
Click to expand...

wisty said:
What's your weekly salary?

You might lose a week's pay waiting for the new machine. You can buy a new 2G machine, get started immediately, then sell it for >70% (I hope) if you decide to switch to a 4G machine. Or you could give the old one away.

You could also prototype your app on a Windows machine. You can learn Objective C on Windows, but the libraries will be a bit different. That would mean your time waiting isn't entirely wasted.
Click to expand...

Getting a new machine when 2GB is not enough anymore definitely cross my mind, maybe by that time apple will have a better h/w specs as well

About windows machine .... my desktop is debian linux, is it even worth trying to develop iOS apps in windows under vmware?


firewood said:
For basic iOS development a 2GB Air will work just fine.

4GB might be indicated if you plan on doing a lot of video editing or running big VM's for linux or vista.
Click to expand...

Can you give iOS apps example that considered as a basic iOS dev?

thanks again guys :)
 
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