MB Pro - specs that help with Xcode?

[iOSGoober]

I'm planning to pick up a MB Pro after WWDC for use with Xcode. Can anyone guide me as to what are the most important specs to consider for this purpose? e.g. Will a CPU upgrade make much difference? I'm already planning a 15" since my eyes are not what they used to be . Anything else to consider?

p.s. I know all about the keyboard issues. Not worried about that for purposes of this discussion.

 

[jerryk]

On a big assumption the base 15" is the same( 16GB, 256ssd) . The base 15" should be fine. But if you have the money I would upgrade the drive to 512 GB. And who knows, they might announce a hex core CPU.

 

[iOSGoober]

Yeah - I was thinking the 512GB would be worth it. The hex core CPU does sound enticing but again I wonder if it would really make a difference? Then again, maybe hex will be standard and we will have the option to bump the clock speeds?

 

[jerryk]

Yeah - I was thinking the 512GB would be worth it. The hex core CPU does sound enticing but again I wonder if it would really make a difference? Then again, maybe hex will be standard and we will have the option to bump the clock speeds?

If they do go hex on the 15, I bet it will be the standard and multiple clocks. Frankly I am not sure faster clocks are worth the money, but you seem to get them when you get a better GPU or more drive space, so there is perhaps bang for the bucks.

 

[leman]

It all depends on what you do. For writing small apps, it doesn't really matter. For working with huge projects, multiple cores might or might not help, depending on how your project is set up and whether files can be compiled in parallel.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

On a big assumption the base 15" is the same( 16GB, 256ssd) . The base 15" should be fine. But if you have the money I would upgrade the drive to 512 GB. And who knows, they might announce a hex core CPU.

I went with the 512GB model because 256GB is really tight for me, plus the 2,799 model CPU has 8MB L3 cache vs. 6MB on the base model CPU. Also, more VRAM on the GPU (4GB vs. 2GB).

Previously I was coding my (small) apps on a 2012 11" MBA with 4GB RAM and other than screen size when working on internal display only, had no performance issues.