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MacBook Retina for Software Development
- Thread starter PressureDrop
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I don't think I've ever had a system that I ran VMs on where each VM had its own core. That's complete bull. At work most servers are well over 1 vCPU to 1 core. My home stuff is similar but not by as large of a margin. VMs will be RAM or IO starved well before being CPU starved short of running a calculation server (i.e. Abaqus for engineering).
What resources are needed for a VM are entirely dependent on what the VM is doing.
3 Windows VMs, all running a Youtube video on my rMB: http://imgur.com/KOPR8dL
Short of pushing all the VMs to the max like that (video was running poorly after third started), 3 should run relatively ok. If using something less of a resource hog like headless Linux VMs, they'll run better as well.
I actually expected to be able to launch a 4th running the video, but the CPU capped at 3 for me. Not that I'm disappointed, it does what I need it to. The performance won't be excellent running 3 Windows VMs with all 3 doing intensive work but they'll run and get the job done. Only adding emphasis so people reading won't just assume their workload will work well without testing.
The few local VMs I'll be using will mostly be headless Linux VMs with the occasional Cisco ASAv/WLC for testing. The rest will be offloaded to an ESXi server and managed from the laptop via Fusion Connect or VMware Remote Console now that OS X is supported.
Where did you get the wallpaper? I thought it was going to come with it but it didn't
There is a wallpaper thread around here with a link to it. I'm on my phone or I'd link it.
EDIT: On laptop now. https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/20997146/
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so far I get contradicted result about xcode from this thread. Can anyone else comment on this?
I would like to do some iOS/andriod dev on rMB. Compiling slowness is fine since I use separate build server for that. Is opening xcode/manipulate storyboard/writing code slow too?
I would like to do some iOS/andriod dev on rMB. Compiling slowness is fine since I use separate build server for that. Is opening xcode/manipulate storyboard/writing code slow too?
Developer experience with rMB? VMWare performance?
Just wondering whether anyone has started using the rMB for serious software development?
Is anyone using any of the following:
VMWare Fusion with Windows or Linux guests.
Eclipse
NetBeans
IntelliJ
JDeveloper
Heavy-weight Java EE servers such as WebLogic, WebSphere, JBoss
Groovy on Grails / Ruby on Rails
Oracle DB (via VM)
Is the performance adequate for your typical tasks?
Are you connecting to an external monitor?
I'm wondering whether the rMB would up to job when travelling, to replace my rMBP 15 for the "lighter jobs".
Just wondering whether anyone has started using the rMB for serious software development?
Is anyone using any of the following:
VMWare Fusion with Windows or Linux guests.
Eclipse
NetBeans
IntelliJ
JDeveloper
Heavy-weight Java EE servers such as WebLogic, WebSphere, JBoss
Groovy on Grails / Ruby on Rails
Oracle DB (via VM)
Is the performance adequate for your typical tasks?
Are you connecting to an external monitor?
I'm wondering whether the rMB would up to job when travelling, to replace my rMBP 15 for the "lighter jobs".
No it doesn't. Proper virtualisation software does not work like that. It's the hypervisor that will manage the cpu and memory side of things. What you do want is a (physical) cpu that is able to drive all your virtual machines. For some a Core Duo would suffice, for others the 12-core cpu in the Mac Pro wouldn't even cut it.
The very first MacBook was able to run 2 to 4 virtual machines when equipped with an ssd. The Core Duo cpu and 2GB of memory were enough. The new MacBook is much faster but modern operating systems also require more from the hardware. Microsoft is doing a very good job at driving down those requirements. Take a look at all those Atom tablets that are able to run Windows 8.1 without any problems. Should be very comparable to performance inside a vm on the MacBook.
Btw, let's not forget that there are people who still do dev work on old machines that are as fast or slower than the current MacBook as well as people devving on an iPad (the iPad is nothing but a frontend, the actual work is done on servers running on some cloud platform or, in some cases, hardware of their own).
It depends on what you would define as being slow or fast, what you are used to and what and how you're devving. Take a look at the Atlassian link someone posted here, shows you a different way of developing things.
I'd worry more about ergonomics and screen real estate though. There isn't much out yet that will make docking the notebook easy and neat.
Sounding pretty positive on the VM front. My old 11" MBA (2011) could handle a headless Linux VM (via Vagrant) no sweat, and I'd be doing much of the same on the rMB.
1440x900 scaled with a Fusion VM running a Docker host, and the local machine running vim should be fun. Real estate at this res should be a tad less than the rMBPwhich I'd run at 1680x1050 scaledbut still more than I was used to on the MBA. 16:10 helps toomore vertical space.
Looking to pick one up this week so will report on the mix above for posterity.
1440x900 scaled with a Fusion VM running a Docker host, and the local machine running vim should be fun. Real estate at this res should be a tad less than the rMBPwhich I'd run at 1680x1050 scaledbut still more than I was used to on the MBA. 16:10 helps toomore vertical space.
Looking to pick one up this week so will report on the mix above for posterity.
I use Xcode & IntelliJ.
I had the base macbook and just returned it. VERY NICE machine.
I am just a speed demon, impatient on build times because I need to do a lot (ADD part of me).
While I am sure the performance is "good enough" for many, just not for me. YMMV. My other mac is a 15" rMBP which smokes the rMB. I also have a 5 year old Dell T3500 Precision Workstation(Quad Xeon processors) that also smokes it.
It is a very very nice machine....
Thanks for the feedback!
Similar to you, I also have a rMBP 15 and a quad-core Xeon desktop machine. The rMB would be a super portable "on the go" machine, for when I can't be bothered to carry my rMBP with me.
It sounds like it would probably do the job, but wouldn't be a full-time substitute for more powerful machines.
I think I'll pass on it for now, given that I'm not travelling much at the moment. If I had to carry the computer a lot every day, I'd look at it again.
Similar to you, I also have a rMBP 15 and a quad-core Xeon desktop machine. The rMB would be a super portable "on the go" machine, for when I can't be bothered to carry my rMBP with me.
It sounds like it would probably do the job, but wouldn't be a full-time substitute for more powerful machines.
I think I'll pass on it for now, given that I'm not travelling much at the moment. If I had to carry the computer a lot every day, I'd look at it again.
I'm doing ROR and php development on it. No problems at all with speed. MAMP and mongodb running at all times. Xcode and Android studio loaded but no real uses yet. Adobe Illustrator used for graphics. All run fine. Parallels + Win 10.
Ruby tests only marginally slower than my rMBP.
Everything is sugar synced between the rMB and rMBP. I could do some comparisons if that would be helpful.
I am not fully used to the keyboard yet. I do miss keys presses more often that I would like.
I'm the developer of this app:
http://www.livingearthapp.com
There's a decent amount of code there. On my 2012 maxed out Retina Macbook Pro a clean build with Xcode takes 30 seconds. On my 1.3ghz Retina Macbook I got today, it takes 1m 30s. So about three times longer.
Bearable since I don't do clean builds often. It's my travel machine and is going to be great for that but not as a primary development machine for what I do.
http://www.livingearthapp.com
There's a decent amount of code there. On my 2012 maxed out Retina Macbook Pro a clean build with Xcode takes 30 seconds. On my 1.3ghz Retina Macbook I got today, it takes 1m 30s. So about three times longer.
Bearable since I don't do clean builds often. It's my travel machine and is going to be great for that but not as a primary development machine for what I do.
This gives me some hope. I'm working on a php project on the bus and need something lighter than a 2011 mbp. Hope I can get one of these soon.
That sounds like a huge difference that I haven't observed. Sounds like the rMBP may have the project cached and the rMB did not. Maybe try them both after a reboot.
I've seen much smaller differences in compile time even compared to a maxed out 3.1ghz 2015 rMBP.
Sorry I wasn't clear, my rMBP is 15" and Quad core..so that explains the large difference.
I just got my base model yesterday. I'm about to start building a fun project with React Native in a few hours and will report back regarding performance. I expect to have a web browser (It's Safari right now since I've been trying to avoid Chrome on this machine) with dozens of tabs open, Xcode, iOS Simulator, and Sublime open at the same time.
It's stuttering a little bit for me so far with 'normal' use (not writing code) but I think that has more to do with me having seven spaces open (five being full-screen apps, the other two as desktops).
It's stuttering a little bit for me so far with 'normal' use (not writing code) but I think that has more to do with me having seven spaces open (five being full-screen apps, the other two as desktops).
Running VMs in external storage can be a mess in the nMB. In this case, the best option is getting the 512GB one.
Is 512GB SSD any faster?
Apart from the obvious space advantage for VMs (I'm really glad I got the 512GB in my rMBP 15 now!), is there any performance advantage with the 512GB SSD compared to the 256GB model?
Apart from the obvious space advantage for VMs (I'm really glad I got the 512GB in my rMBP 15 now!), is there any performance advantage with the 512GB SSD compared to the 256GB model?
I know there's been a lot of talk here about Xcode but any more thoughts on visual studio (I know it's a resource hog). I'm just hoping it runs well enough to open a medium c/c++ project and compile something without me wanting to rip my hair out. (Running in fusion or parallels)
