Which mac to buy for app development

App Development
1

Hi I want to take Chris’ course for ios development. I am a little confused about what mac I should buy on a bit of a budget. It is sufficient to go with 8gb ram and 128 hard drive. I understand xcode takes up 5-12 gb, but I am assuming that is hard drive space. I would really appreciate any guidance on weather or not I will be able to create apps with few hiccups if I go for the entry level macbook air 8GB, 128 hard drive?

Thanks; any response is appreciated
Richard

2

Hi Richard, welcome to the community!!

Yes those specs are perfectly fine!!! I have a 2016 MacBook Pro, with 8GB of RAM and 256GB hard drive (storage) and have had no issues.

Honestly ANY Mac will work! It doesn’t get into issues until you start having really really large apps

Also my Mac is from 2016, and I’m not even considering upgrading yet, food for thought…

3

Hi Richard,

I’m using a Mac mini (end 2012). It’s work fine, too. It needs just a bit longer to load storyboard and simulations, but it works.
If you can spend more from your budget, you should do. You would save time and don’t loosing so much creativity, just because of slower cpu power.

4

HI Richard,

As others have rightfully said, any Mac the can run Mac OS will work.

Couple things to think about.

Apple just extended the requirement that apps in the store must be built with the iOS 13 sdk. If you get a used machine and plan to have your app in the store, ensure that it will run the current version of Xcode.

Also, cores are your friend with development. I have a MacBook with four cores and a Mac Pro (trash can) with 6 cores. Build executions light up all those cores, every time!

An Air will run, and it will be slow. Patients will be a good thing.

128 is tight when you add design software, etc. You will need to trim the fat off xCode with one of the utilities like Dev Cleaner. It will remove gigs of files that you may not need.

I had a 128 gb SSD on a machine, it would be frustrating to get Xcode to update as it needs the disk space head room if you are running close. Add to this problem that SSDs are no longer upgradeable even after your Applecare has expired. Most of soldered onto the board.

Hence, my advice it to stretch to a 256gb SSD, you will really appreciate it later!

good luck!
Blessings,
—Mark