macOS Ideal development machine?

Lollypop said:

So what would be a ideal machine for a developer like me? The new quad Powermacs are a bit overkill in my opinion, but im thinking definately a powermac due to the tons of memory I can stuff into it and in effect have a lot of different open pages and scripts and source files open at the same time, I can also have a big monitor and have better workflow... The machine will be for development and playing music in the background, any comments?

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My old 15" 800 MHz titanium PowerBook (768 MB RAM) is actually still quite a good development machine (C, Obj-C, Cocoa, QuickTime, Python) and does very well with Tiger and multitasking. But if you're looking for an excuse for a new G5, any of the new dual-cores should do well for you. As you said, the quad is most likely overkill for your needs. Just get a bunch of RAM (1.25 GB+ IMO), a decent graphics card (Radeon 9800+, 256 MB+), and spend extra on a nice monitor (if you don't insist on an LCD, the LaCie color-critical reference CRTs are nice and affordable).

I'm currently running a 1.67Ghz PB with 1.5Gb RAM and it's perfect for my work. I'm developing PHP sites mainly with some audio and video editing thrown in too.

The only thing I found to be lacking was the amount of screen real estate, so I decided to drop the cash for a 20" widescreen monitor and I'm using both screens all the time now.

It's perfect!

Depending on the cash flow, just get a new monitor - maybe a 23" Apple or 24" Dell. I wholeheartedly second orkle's point. I use an ageing 18" Iiyama ("square") at home and 20" Apple in the office and really suggest the widescreen if you can get one. Throw in an external HDD, keyboard, (mighty?) mouse and an iCurve.

For the development you are talking about, any computer in the current Apple line up will do. Unless you are doing intensive numerical processing (audio, video, statistics, differential systems etc.) the benefit of a monster processor are not going to be worth the expenditure, especially considering that you will need a monitor as well. I am not sure how your PB is taxed. My 1.6 / 1.5 / 15 runs all the stuff you use (apart from the PHP, but lots of c++) and I recently discovered that my iTunes collection is actually quite popular in the office. It rarely breaks into a sweat. Above all, it is really nice to keep all my stuff in one place. Using a desktop and a laptop I found frustrating in the end (remember to backup though!)

That said, it seems you want a new computer ... don't we all . Above all get the machine you want. The most important thing is to be happy with your purchase. If you are personally happy with your machine, you will be happier developing on it, whatever your needs.

AlmostThere said:

Throw in an external HDD, keyboard, (mighty?) mouse and an iCurve.

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That's the other thing I meant to mention - I have a keyboard, mouse and speakers all hooked up here on my desk, so when I'm home I just plug everything into the PowerBook and it works like a desktop. Then when I need to travel just pick it up and off you go!

Lollypop said:

I actually am looking for an excuse to by a new machine! hehe

But it could be a mini all the to an entry-level G5 tower. Glad you agree on memory and screen, was thinking since I’m running scripting stuff processing power isnt such a big deal but memory and screen real-estate could be make things a lot easier!

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to be honest in your development you are not going to take advantage of the mutiple processor cores, so it really would be waste. i develop php/mysql on my powerbook then transfer all the files to a production server.

however if you just want a new toy, and quad g5 would be nice. your OS should run faster etc, but only application that are multi-threaded will take advtange of your multiple cores.

Unless you're doing the compiling on your machine, you just need something basic. Editing text files and uploading to another web site doesn't require any special power...

But for those who do lots of compiling on their machines, then a PowerMac is more well suited for them. But for you and your situation, any Mac would do.

unless you plan to program java

i know the thread seems closed, but for the benefit of future lurkers: the guidelines layed out during this thread are right on, as long as you don't need a java IDE (eclipse, netbeans). those things are SLOW and need lots of memory. eclipse was a little slow on my powermac g4 933 / 1.5gb, and approaches rage-inducing every day on my mini 1.25gz / 1gb.

java ide's are like FPS games: get the fastest machine you can, since in a couple years the ide will have bloated to the point of sapping all your resources. maybe that will begin to level out, but it hasn't quite yet.

IMHO, the new 20" iMac would make a very good dev machine.

there's absolutely no reason you'd need a more powerful machine to do development, unless you are having reallly long compile times. I think you just want a new machine [can't blame you!].

For what you're doing though, you don't need much. Maybe you're running out of screen space or hard drive space, but a new machine is not a necessity here. And opening more source files and such is not going to eat your memory as quickly as you think.

If I were you and money wasn't an issue I'd get a 20" iMac [1GB RAM, not that you couldn't do fine with 512MB probably] and use them both for development and personal use . Until my girlfriend steals it from me, anyway

Lollypop said:

Im currently mostly developing websites with scripting like javascript ect. on my powerbook, but im going to have to start to do a little more, including PHP, mySQL, python and a little C, and I want to get a dedicated machine and let my poor powerbook be the personal machine it was intended for.

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Two big things to consider, which I think you're already thinking about.

1) Screen. Most important, IMO. You want something large enough to view several files side by side. At least 2 is nice, but the more screen space the better. A lot of times you'll want to have API docs open, or two source code files open at the same time, and having to switch back and forth is a real drain on productivity.

2) RAM. Get a lot of it so you can easily run your application, IDE, Safari, etc. all at the same time without hiccups. 768MB-1GB should be a good number, and not too expensive.

Processor power isn't too big a deal, unless you're doing real intensive stuff. The dual-core 2Ghz is more than enough for most stuff. I wouldn't write off a powerbook/ibook just yet either. With some extra RAM they would be suitable for most needs, as long as you can drive an external display.

Lollypop said:

Im currently mostly developing websites with scripting like javascript ect. on my powerbook, but im going to have to start to do a little more, including PHP, mySQL, python and a little C, and I want to get a dedicated machine and let my poor powerbook be the personal machine it was intended for.

So what would be a ideal machine for a developer like me? The new quad Powermacs are a bit overkill in my opinion, but im thinking definately a powermac due to the tons of memory I can stuff into it and in effect have a lot of different open pages and scripts and source files open at the same time, I can also have a big monitor and have better workflow... The machine will be for development and playing music in the background, any comments?

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Heck I'd say a Mac Mini would suit you well - throw in a GB of RAM and just get one of the Heat Sinks that sit on it, but I guess you want more power.

The PowerMac would be better for the processors and HDD to have a little ventilation (SP?). If its a dedicated Web Server, depending on how much you are going to store, then it depends on what OS you'll have on it. Server or just regular OS X? Server you can setup with Web stuff and it'll be easier to set things up with, (I'd say the 10 client, cause I don't think web matters on client side, I think thats just for client machines using the AFP). If you do it regular OS X, you just have to edit /etc/httpd/httpd.conf and set that up.

On the side note, BTW, I can show you how you can play control DVD's and iTunes from a web browser if you want.