MacBook + Xcode

Hi, while I have used my Macbook (1.2GHz model) not yet heavily for development work, I have installed Xcode (7.01) and verified that all my projects compile and run reasonably well. On the other hand, I've done some MATLAB development (version 2015b). Everything goes really fast, about 30% faster than on the Macbook Air 11 (Mid 2013) that it replaced. As long as you do no OpenGL 3D graphics stuff you should be fine with the Macbook. I chose the 1.2Ghz model for the larger SSD, by the way.
Regards, Werner

 

It's all relative. Just because it might work for some people for specific projects of a given complexity and size, it doesn't mean that it will work for others. As long as your projects don't get too crazy / big, you should be fine ( by "fine" I mean that compilation times won't take ages... the notebook will surely not `explode` if you happen to throw something bigger at it ). You could download some open-source projects ( something that would mimic the potential size and complexity of the projects you'll be working on ) and try compiling them... it's up to you to decide if the resulting compile times are good enough for you or not.

PS: In case you like using the visual editor a lot to drag stuff around ( build your layout in a visual manner ), then again, playing around with an open source project that is close in complexity and size to whatever you plan on doing, will most likely give you a good enough idea about how things will handle. E.g.: with many and quite big visual elements, the visual editor might become choppy or it might take it quite a while to compose and render the layout for you ( this is not a concern if you build your apps mainly in code, then you'll mainly care about compile times ).

 

The MacBook handles xCode just fine. Compile times aren't even that bad, really. I have the 1.2/512 model.

My issue with the MacBook is with the real estate of the 12-inch screen. I find myself opening and closing panels all the time. You can max-out the scaled resolution setting but that only goes so far. I imagine it would be fine for "basic development".

Size issues aside, I DO love the keyboard, the quality of the screen (even on scaled resolutions) and the fact you don't have to be anywhere. My last point (portability) is not really a big deal in my opinion. I do my best work when I'm sitting at my desk.

 

I use Xcode on the base model for C++ development and I am quite pleased. If you are accustomed to using a large monitor with a desktop, the smaller screen takes some getting used to, but it can be done. The benefits of portability outweigh the lack of screen real estate for me. I find that I actually spend more time thinking and less time staring at lots windows of code, and in the end I think I am more productive.

 

I have been doing enterprise development on my 1.3ghz MB for a few months now, building projects with over 200k LoC. The biggest slowdowns occur when dealing with large storyboards or build times in general (about 1.5-2 min for initial builds). Aside from that, it's been my primary dev machine and is great when you hook it up to an external monitor.