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Anybody know what's the cheapest setup you could get away with for iOS/xcode development? Would it be a (used) Macbook Air, or can you not really run xcode effe

Anybody know what's the cheapest setup you could get away with for iOS/xcode development? Would it be a (used) Macbook Air, or can you not really run xcode effectively on them?

janekm 7y ago
Mac mini with at least a 2K external display.
shadytrees 7y ago
It would definitely be painful to run XCode and iOS Simulator on a used MacBook Air, but not impossible. Price-wise, however, it's hard to beat a Hackintosh. Here, for example, is a $300 build: https://hackintosher.com/builds/cheap-hackinosh-2020-300-catalina-desktop-pc-gigabyte-b365m-ds3h/ https://hackintosher.com/builds/cheap-hackinosh-2020-300-cat... I remember being broke out of college and setting one up out of necessity. It's still going! I'm typing on it now. It needs a motherboard/processor upgrade, _maybe_, these days. Still one of the best cost-saving decisions I've made in my life. And it just plain feels good to not have to throw out / recycle a laptop every five years. They're terrible for the environment. There are shops that will build the hardware for you. Setting up the bootloader is still the hardest part, but it gets easier with each iteration of the Hackintosh software ecosystem.
gregkerzhner 7y ago
I developed my first few iOS apps on a 2013 MacBook Air with 4 gigs of ram. On larger projects (especially Swift) the builds could be a bit slow and the syntax highlighting would be delayed, but overall it was totally manageable. When I upgraded to a 16gig Mac book pro, I thought it would be a game changer to speed up the builds. To my surprise, they weren't really that much faster. It seems like the slowness of XCode and Swift isn't constrained by resources - its just slow no matter how much power you throw at it. So I would say for getting into iOS and Xcode development these new Macbook Airs would be more than enough and a used older Air would suffice.
Tepix 7y ago
A hackintosh... if you can live with being a dirty criminal /s
Humdeee 7y ago
I've used a 2014 Macbook Air very heavily on a daily basis for years now and it still does fine on small-medium app development. Simulator's are the biggest pain point. I recently started dabbling in video editing a bit and that's what definitely gets the fans going.
72deluxe 7y ago
I am surviving with a 2012 MacBook Pro that I have upgraded the RAM (16GB) and put a SATA3 SSD in. Just as fast as my late 2016 MacBook Pro, with better battery life despite being on the original battery (that I can replace) and a real escape key, proper function keys and a better lit keyboard than the new models. The only "issue" it has is the low res (I drive an external monitor for higher resolutions) and the plastic under the back of the screen being cracked in one place. Other than that, just like new. An old MacBook Pro will work fine, as long as it has an SSD and some sensible quantity of RAM. No need to buy new.

Anybody know what's the cheapest setup you could get away with for iOS/xcode development? Would it be a (used) Macbook Air, or can you not really run xcode effectively on them?

janekm 7y ago

Mac mini with at least a 2K external display.

shadytrees 7y ago

It would definitely be painful to run XCode and iOS Simulator on a used MacBook Air, but not impossible. Price-wise, however, it's hard to beat a Hackintosh. Here, for example, is a $300 build: https://hackintosher.com/builds/cheap-hackinosh-2020-300-catalina-desktop-pc-gigabyte-b365m-ds3h/ https://hackintosher.com/builds/cheap-hackinosh-2020-300-cat... I remember being broke out of college and setting one up out of necessity. It's still going! I'm typing on it now. It needs a motherboard/processor upgrade, _maybe_, these days. Still one of the best cost-saving decisions I've made in my life. And it just plain feels good to not have to throw out / recycle a laptop every five years. They're terrible for the environment. There are shops that will build the hardware for you. Setting up the bootloader is still the hardest part, but it gets easier with each iteration of the Hackintosh software ecosystem.

gregkerzhner 7y ago

I developed my first few iOS apps on a 2013 MacBook Air with 4 gigs of ram. On larger projects (especially Swift) the builds could be a bit slow and the syntax highlighting would be delayed, but overall it was totally manageable. When I upgraded to a 16gig Mac book pro, I thought it would be a game changer to speed up the builds. To my surprise, they weren't really that much faster. It seems like the slowness of XCode and Swift isn't constrained by resources - its just slow no matter how much power you throw at it. So I would say for getting into iOS and Xcode development these new Macbook Airs would be more than enough and a used older Air would suffice.

Tepix 7y ago

A hackintosh... if you can live with being a dirty criminal /s

Humdeee 7y ago

I've used a 2014 Macbook Air very heavily on a daily basis for years now and it still does fine on small-medium app development. Simulator's are the biggest pain point. I recently started dabbling in video editing a bit and that's what definitely gets the fans going.

72deluxe 7y ago

I am surviving with a 2012 MacBook Pro that I have upgraded the RAM (16GB) and put a SATA3 SSD in. Just as fast as my late 2016 MacBook Pro, with better battery life despite being on the original battery (that I can replace) and a real escape key, proper function keys and a better lit keyboard than the new models. The only "issue" it has is the low res (I drive an external monitor for higher resolutions) and the plastic under the back of the screen being cracked in one place. Other than that, just like new. An old MacBook Pro will work fine, as long as it has an SSD and some sensible quantity of RAM. No need to buy new.