iOS iOS Development on an very old Macbook. Is it real?

[Dannyy]

Hey boys, I need advice. I want to learn iOS/MacOS development and get a new job in the nearly future (I'm working as Mechanical Engineer and I'm sick of it), so I want to know is it okay to use an old MacBook Pro 13' mid 2009 for that or I will have a problems. I mean, of course I will have a problems, but i'm wondering, can I use it for learning Xcode and developing small apps for couple months. I have couple ideas for applications and games for iPhone, that I want to bring into reality, but I can't change my working machine right now, maybe later. I'm asking cuz I've installed Xcode already, and when I'm opening Simulator, my fans goes crazy even with application where nothing more than white screen.

 

[09872738]

As long as you run a recent version of macOS you should be good. Upcoming Xcode 11 may require Catalina...

Not sure what causes the fan issues. Are you sure this is connected with Xcode/Simulator?

 

[PhoneyDeveloper]

If that Mac has a hard drive in it, not an SSD then you won't be happy. 4G RAM isn't enough and I think the Core 2 Duo is also not supported anymore. You might be able to run an older version of Xcode but that's not a great idea.

I have an old iMac with an hd and the Sim can take a minute to load. I have enough RAM and the Sim does eventually load but it's slow.

 

[EugW]

I’m no developer but I do have that machine, so here are my 2 cents:

Xcode 11 beta requires 10.14 Mojave, which does not run on that Mac officially. I see that you have installed Mojave anyway but the last hacked OS that runs properly on that machine IMO is 10.13 High Sierra. There are more glitches with Mojave. I wonder if that may be an issue for Xcode 11.

Also, that machine should ideally have an SSD and 8 GB RAM.

 

[MisterSavage]

Two years ago I tried using my 2010 iMac with 8GB of ram for development and it was a nightmare. Xcode could take several minutes to compile a project, if it even worked at all (didn't lock up).