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Bruce Watson

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 12, 2011
1
0
Central NC, USA
How hardware intensive is iOS 4.3 development? IOW, how much Mac do I need to effectively run the current (May 2011) iOS SDK and IDE? Said another way, what's the least amount of hardware (CPU, Ram, monitor size, etc.) any of you experienced hands would consider using for iPhone app. development?

Yes, I know it's subjective. I'm just asking for your subjective opinions.

I just want to keep my costs down while I'm writing my first iPhone app. If I can buy used I will. If I can borrow a machine for a few months, even better. I just need an idea of how low is too low.
 

cooldaddybeck

macrumors member
Jul 15, 2008
74
0
San Jose, CA
I work with xcode on both my 2008 MBP and my company 13" MBA (current model) with no issues. My MBP feels slow compared to the MBA, but they both work very well.

I think you'd be find with just about any MAC system.
 

Zedcars

macrumors 6502
Apr 5, 2010
406
718
Brighton, UK
I'm still in PPC-land. Could be a stupid question, but does all iOS development have to be done on Intel Macs? I wasn't going to upgrade until next year, but have a good app idea I want to get off the ground.
 

mgartner0622

macrumors 65816
Jun 6, 2010
1,018
0
Colorado, USA
I'm still in PPC-land. Could be a stupid question, but does all iOS development have to be done on Intel Macs? I wasn't going to upgrade until next year, but have a good app idea I want to get off the ground.

Yes, Intel only "technically".
However there is a workaround for the older versions of the SDK. I'm not sure if it still works.
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-10115416-233.html
 

dantastic

macrumors 6502a
Jan 21, 2011
572
678
I've an imac with an extra screen - I would find it very difficult to do down to just one screen or a laptop for work. But that's what I'm used to, a lot of people will have no problem just using a laptop but for me screen real estate is the most important thing.

I'm kindof struggling with xcode 4 & 2GB ram... should probably upgrade that one soon - xcode3 was no bother at all though.
 

KnightWRX

macrumors Pentium
Jan 28, 2009
15,046
4
Quebec, Canada
I've an imac with an extra screen - I would find it very difficult to do down to just one screen or a laptop for work. But that's what I'm used to, a lot of people will have no problem just using a laptop but for me screen real estate is the most important thing.

I know we're not supposed to reveal this little secret, but I'm gonna break NDA here: Mac laptops have this thing called MiniDisplay port, to which you can hook up 1 or more external monitors and run insanely high resolutions. ;)
 

firewood

macrumors G3
Jul 29, 2003
8,106
1,343
Silicon Valley
The slowest Intel Mac Mini or a display as small as a MacBook Air 11 will work just fine with XCode 3 (that's what I've been using quite successfully). Xcode 4 may be a different beast requiring more horsepower, more GB, and more display real estate.
 

AWallen90

macrumors 6502
Sep 15, 2009
365
45
It's more about your HDD speed from what I've experienced. As was stated earlier a Macbook air feels faster than a Macbook pro. Running a 7200rpm Hdd in my late '06 macbook felt faster than developing on a mac pro (not entirely sure what it was so let's just assume base model), only because the faster rpm HDD.
 

dantastic

macrumors 6502a
Jan 21, 2011
572
678
I know we're not supposed to reveal this little secret, but I'm gonna break NDA here: Mac laptops have this thing called MiniDisplay port, to which you can hook up 1 or more external monitors and run insanely high resolutions. ;)

:D

Well, this is highly individual... I don't ever need to carry my machine with me and I've a nice and big office space so I'm quite happy with my iMac :)
 
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