Mac hunting for iphone development

[Diablohead]

I'm hunting down a Mac to buy and use for iPhone development but having troubles, not just finding a good priced Mac but also knowing it will work with iPhone dev work. I read that some Mac's will not work due to some missing drivers (?) like the Mac mini, but prices for new Mac books seem to be £719 and above.

Can anyone suggest a good place or which mac I should aim for without spending too much? I suppose eBay is an option as long as I know the machine I buy will cover everything I need to run Unity, the iphone SDK and such.

[Paulio]

A mac mini works with deving (I've only heard this, but)

I think the best buy for a Mac atm (for US anyway) is the $999 white entry level macbook, it has recently been updated to very similar specs as the more expensive uni-body macbook. Only problem is, when they released the new models and prices Australias dollar was extremely shit (Kevin Rudd..) so it costs AU$1649, had it been released a few months earlier it would have been closer to 1.1 - 1.2K which is pretty good.

Anyway, best place to buy is from an Apple store, be it online or an actual shop. Although, you could always get a second hand/refurbished one from online or through a seperate business?

[Diablohead]

I will look more into the mac mini, if it does work I will pick one of them up from the online store, otherwise i'll have to try 2nd hand for a macbook.

Anything I should know about mac mini's? (open question)

[Birdsoft]

I use a Mac Mini for all my development.. !!! So it does work just fine.. I got the cheap one even and use a KVM to use with my Vista boxes big screen and usb keyboard/mouse(it came with the VGA adaptor)... No problems here(I dont run Unity but xcode and the simulator both work well enough).

[Diablohead]

Thanks for replying, looks like I will grab a mini then :) and I hope this thread helps anyone else stuck on the same boat.

[Hippieman]

The Mac must have the following:

1. An Intel based processor
2. OS X 10.5

As long as you have that you are good to go.

A Mini is an excellent machine to work on. You might want to increase the RAM to minimum 1 gb.

[arn]

fwiw, everyone expects the mini to be upgraded soon. I think the low end MacBook is a much better bang for your buck at the moment.

The mini on the market now came out 535 days ago (http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#Mac_mini)

arn

[Diablohead]

fwiw, everyone expects the mini to be upgraded soon. I think the low end MacBook is a much better bang for your buck at the moment.

The mini on the market now came out 535 days ago (http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#Mac_mini)

arn
My plan is to buy the Mac mini in april when I can sit down and crack on with the code, so thanks for the head's up :)

[Tennisking1o1]

fwiw, everyone expects the mini to be upgraded soon. I think the low end MacBook is a much better bang for your buck at the moment.

The mini on the market now came out 535 days ago (http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#Mac_mini)

arn

I was hoping a new one would come out at macworld :(

But oh well, I caved and got an aluminum macbook

[1337brian]

I had just borrowed my buddies Powermac G4 and to my surprise I needed a mac with a min of 833 mhz processor, my G4 only had duel 533, We have found some decent deals on craigs list for used macs, and I think this is the road I am headed, I really want a new MBP, but don't think finacially it would be wise...

[Tennisking1o1]

I had just borrowed my buddies Powermac G4 and to my surprise I needed a mac with a min of 833 mhz processor, my G4 only had duel 533, We have found some decent deals on craigs list for used macs, and I think this is the road I am headed, I really want a new MBP, but don't think finacially it would be wise...

ahh, just get it!

[Zwilnik]

I had just borrowed my buddies Powermac G4 and to my surprise I needed a mac with a min of 833 mhz processor, my G4 only had duel 533, We have found some decent deals on craigs list for used macs, and I think this is the road I am headed, I really want a new MBP, but don't think finacially it would be wise...

It has to be an Intel Mac for the iPhone devkit too.

[1337brian]

ahh, just get it!

That's what I'm thinking, but, I have to way my options, If i get the mac there is no telling if i can make enough off of selling apps to cover the costs, but either way i would have a new mac... :rolleyes:

[Zwilnik]

That's what I'm thinking, but, I have to way my options, If i get the mac there is no telling if i can make enough off of selling apps to cover the costs, but either way i would have a new mac... :rolleyes:

Exactly :)

It's down to whether you feel you have the confidence to write an iPhone app that will sell enough copies to cover the investment. Which isn't all that many really. Even if it only grazes the low end of the top 100 you'll probably cover the cost of a MacBook and a month or so's dev time in the first few months.

[1337brian]

Exactly :)

It's down to whether you feel you have the confidence to write an iPhone app that will sell enough copies to cover the investment. Which isn't all that many really. Even if it only grazes the low end of the top 100 you'll probably cover the cost of a MacBook and a month or so's dev time in the first few months.

Ya, I agree it is very doable but the dynamic for the store is changing very quickly, by the time I can have something good for sale it might be 6 months, who knows what the app store will look like then. Especially for a first time dev...

[Zwilnik]

Ya, I agree it is very doable but the dynamic for the store is changing very quickly, by the time I can have something good for sale it might be 6 months, who knows what the app store will look like then. Especially for a first time dev...

Yup, but as you said, you'll still have a new Mac and even if your app is only making $5 a day, that's still one free beer per day :)

[1337brian]

Yup, but as you said, you'll still have a new Mac and even if your app is only making $5 a day, that's still one free beer per day :)

Well taxes are coming, let's see what my return is and that could be my new MBP... 15' of course, 17 is more than I need...

[TheOZ]

Forget the MacMini get the Mactini.

GdIanqM_RZ8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdIanqM_RZ8

Lol ontopic, Im too looking for a mac and thinking about the mini and to my understanding so far(from other sources) the mac mini can be used on any type of computer, i.e dell, windows etc not just other mac keyboards and monitors?

[Zwilnik]

Lol ontopic, Im too looking for a mac and thinking about the mini and to my understanding so far(from other sources) the mac mini can be used on any type of computer, i.e dell, windows etc not just other mac keyboards and monitors?

As long as it's a USB keyboard and either a VGA or DVI monitor.

Actually, all Macs can use USB keyboards and mice and external VGA and DVI monitors (MacBooks, iMacs and MacBook Pros need an adaptor from their mini ports).

Very handy for MacBooks and MacBook Pros when you want to use a separate keyboard/mouse when they're desk bound and when you want to run a second monitor off your MacBook or MacBook Pro.

[Diablohead]

I seen people with average app's sell and make their costs back within a few months so I would not worry too much about that part, long as you can learn to code something that people will buy that is.

[RetroGuy]

A couple of sites posted rumors earlier this month that a new rev of the Mac Mini may come out in March.

[Zwilnik]

A couple of sites posted rumors earlier this month that a new rev of the Mac Mini may come out in March.

I've seen those. One rumour is that it might have a 1.6Ghz Intel Atom CPU but a proper GPU. Thing is, that may actually be worse for iPhone dev as you kind of want a faster CPU for XCode to compile faster whereas the GPU's not an issue as the simulator already runs over-fast anyway.

Then again, the speed difference may not be all that much and if it makes the Mac mini cheaper but still able to do everything just as well, then that's probably a good thing.

[RetroGuy]

I agree, though I find it hard to believe they'd release a new computer nearly a year and a half after the last one and make it worse. At $600 and $800 it's already cheap, so making it a little worse and a little cheaper would suck. I intend to wait a few weeks to see what it is, then buy the old or new model.

[Zwilnik]

I agree, though I find it hard to believe they'd release a new computer nearly a year and a half after the last one and make it worse. At $600 and $800 it's already cheap, so making it a little worse and a little cheaper would suck. I intend to wait a few weeks to see what it is, then buy the old or new model.

They did it with the first Intel Mac mini. Faster CPU but much much slower graphics than the older G4 one (Radeon 9200 down to the Intel built in one). It could be that in the Mac mini's configuration, bus layout etc. the Atom isn't actually any slower in real terms than the Core 2, but it does seem a bit odd.

[Diablohead]

Good idea, if the mini update isn't worth it then i'll just buy my mini earlier then planned.

[Hippieman]

Everyone should just own a Mini anyway.

Look at it like this. Your app hits the top 10 and you make $50,000 on your app. Then you upgrade to a new MacBook Pro.

Then the Mini becomes the best media player for your TV on the market.

[HouseTreeRobot]

Dont forget to look out for refurbished macs. I got a mac mini from the apple store with about 20% off. (or at least something that was better than any discount I could find) Ended up about the same price as a second hand intel mac mini off ebay. (most of which would have needed me to buy leopard-10.5 to upgrade it)

Still has warranty, etc etc as if it was new

[HandheldGames]

Low cost options folks... EFI-X for the home builders or and MSI Wind for those seeking the portable option. Makes the out of reach - accessible. Just search the net for details.

Thx!
HHG

[Zwilnik]

Low cost options folks... EFI-X for the home builders or and MSI Wind for those seeking the portable option. Makes the out of reach - accessible. Just search the net for details.

Thx!
HHG

Not a Mac though, which means you're having to hack about with unlicensed copies of OSX to use them, which also means you're in breach of all sorts of parts of your developer license and likely to get really stuck when something changes in and update and stops it all working.

For the sake of a couple of hundred bucks that you can make back in a day even with a low selling title, it would be a bit unprofessional to be using hacks like that and very likely to cost you a lot more.

[HandheldGames]

Can be done with a retail disk. ;-) I'm happy on my Mac Pro's and my guys are on iMac's. For those on a budget... a couple hundred or so can mean making rent... or the difference between having a quad core mac-pro esque maching with a 7200 RPM 1TB disk or a mac mini....

Thx!
HHG

[Zwilnik]

Can be done with a retail disk. ;-) I'm happy on my Mac Pro's and my guys are on iMac's. For those on a budget... a couple hundred or so can mean making rent... or the difference between having a quad core mac-pro esque maching with a 7200 RPM 1TB disk or a mac mini....

Thx!
HHG

the license on the retail disk doesn't cover installation on anything other than a genuine Mac though. If you install it on anything else you're breaking the EULA and the developer agreement. That's before the potential for everything going horribly wrong because an update decides it doesn't like the incompatible hardware.

If you're serious about being an iPhone developer, setting up with the proper hardware and software is a critical investment. A few hundred dollars saved when you start could easily cost you thousands if you miss a few days of development at a critical time. It's an unprofessional way to do things.

[Rocketman919]

ok so im planning on getting a new imac, would this be a good option? (i need a new one anyway, mines a G5)

[Eric5h5]

ok so im planning on getting a new imac, would this be a good option? (i need a new one anyway, mines a G5)

Sure.

--Eric

[Rocketman919]

Sure.

--Eric

heh, thanks for the response. Short but sweet.

[Paulio]

I want an iMac, but I'm going to wait until the imminent update. Just hope our Aussie dollar isn't still shot..

[brewstermax]

I want an iMac, but I'm going to wait until the imminent update. Just hope our Aussie dollar isn't still shot..

Hey, it can't be much worse than USD. I mean, Apple is committed to not raising prices on us, so I'm guessing that it will be handed off on you. And don't do what I did, and always wait for the update. It will happen, just get something. I waited for 3 years following updates, and always said that as soon as one comes, I'm getting a Macbook. And then I talked myself into waiting for the NEXT update. If one doesn't come in April, the current iMacs are fine.

[Zwilnik]

I want an iMac, but I'm going to wait until the imminent update. Just hope our Aussie dollar isn't still shot..

I'm in 2 minds about waiting for the next iMac update. My current (1st gen Intel 2.33Ghz) one is doing quite nicely so it's not critical, more of a case of wanting shiny stuff. Problem is, when I do come to upgrade, my worry is that the new iMac will follow the MacBook trend and ditch the firewire port which I need. Then again, Apple may decide to at least keep FW 800 at least in the 24" and it's all me just speculating, so I should get on with working with my current one and stop worrying :)