I’m looking to purchase a macbook for the express intent of starting to learn coding with Xcode. So right now I have 0 coding experience and so don’t think it makes sense to purchase a brand new macbook right now. I think maybe a refurbished one is the best to begin with.
I have a few questions as follows:
How old should the model be? Should I be getting the new M1 chip macbook for my purposes as a beginner? Or would a 2017 version Macbook suffice?
It seems like most recommendations go for macbook pro over macbook air because the pro has better cooling capabilities which is better for high-intensive tasks. Can you tell the difference when coding?
When I bought my I had the same intention.
Thankfully I opt for the 512GB version.
MS Office, FCPX and XCode are the main drivers for that.
Never had any issues with „just“ 8GB RAM.
When coding, my fans never ever started to spin.
In Germany they have some good refurbished deals as MacBook Air, M1, 8/512GB (-200€). Probably would go for that if I needed a Macbook right now.
My MacBook Air 1.8 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 8GB RAM 121 GB Storage gives me problem running the War Card Game program app in the 14 days trial course. And I am about to start the CWC course which I think would be more demanding in terms of hardware performance.
I am doing the search to buy new hardware and leaning on buying iMac 2021 with M1 chip 8GB RAM 512 GB SSD. Can you please guys share your thoughts? Thanks…
@lillins93
Hey, I was just going through my feed and spotted your post. My first question would be: What is your budget?
If your budget is more than $1999, then I would consider the new M1 Pro/M1 Max Macbook Pros.
If your budget is between $1199 and $1899, then I would consider the M1 MacBook Pro.
If your budget is from $999 to $1099, then the M1 MacBook Air, which is still ideal for development.
And finally, if your budget is less than $990, then a refurbished M1 Macbook Air from Apple itself would do the trick.
My last question is: What is going to be your workload on the device?
If it is only for Xcode, then the M1 Macbook Air would suffice.
If it is for video editing and Xcode, then the M1 Macbook Pro would suffice.
Lastly, if it was graphic designing, video editing, and Xcode, then I would say the new M1 Pro/M1 Max Macbooks are the way to go.
If you read until here, thanks!
**Best of luck, ** - Harri