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iOS Macbook Air or Macbook Pro Non-Retina?

L

lightuser333

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 14, 2014
26
0
So I recently started programming games in Xcode for the iPhone. I have an old macbook and I want to upgrade but I don't know what computer to buy. I am thinking of the Macbook Air 13" 8GB 128GB(Plus a 64GB SD card), and an intel i5 processor. Or the Macbook Pro 13" 4GB 128(Flash Storage + and SD card), and an intel i5 processor. So which one should I get? Please don't say MBP retina because it is a bit out of my price range... I also like to play some games like Minecraft and COD4.

Thanks!
 
MacBook Pro for sure, simply because it has more RAM. Game development, even for iOS, can require some very memory-intensive software. I cannot imagine trying to make apps with 4GB of RAM. I am running in to enough trouble with 8GB.
 
AxoNeuron said:
MacBook Pro for sure, simply because it has more RAM. Game development, even for iOS, can require some very memory-intensive software. I cannot imagine trying to make apps with 4GB of RAM. I am running in to enough trouble with 8GB.
Click to expand...

Did you mean Air? The OP's options seem to show the Air with 8GB of RAM compared to the MBP's 4GB.

Anyway, I don't think anyone should be considering a non-retina MBP anymore for almost anything. The MacBook Air provides huge advantages over the cMBP in terms of portability, speed and, in some configurations, even raw power. It will last a lot longer too.
 
cambookpro said:
Did you mean Air? The OP's options seem to show the Air with 8GB of RAM compared to the MBP's 4GB.

Anyway, I don't think anyone should be considering a non-retina MBP anymore for almost anything. The MacBook Air provides huge advantages over the cMBP in terms of portability, speed and, in some configurations, even raw power. It will last a lot longer too.
Click to expand...

Yep, I misread that. Get the air since it has 8GB RAM.
 
I am thinking of getting the macbook pro retina...
Do you guys think I should do this?
And do you think I should get the mbp(retina) with 2.6Ghz or 2.8?
 
so increase it to 16Gb, I don't know if i can afford that...
I can get 8GB though...
 
lightuser333 said:
so increase it to 16Gb, I don't know if i can afford that...
I can get 8GB though...
Click to expand...

The retina macbook pro would be the ideal machine. It is absolutely fantastic. RAM is the most important thing with iOS development, 8GB would be...ok but 16GB would be best. You would notice 16GB Avery easily, but a 200Mhz processor bump wouldn't be that big of a deal.

If you know for a fact that the machine will pay for itself through game developmnet then get the best you can. If you're just learning and won't be making money in development for a long time, stay strict with your budget. The worst possible thing you could do would be to go in to debt to buy a machine for learning game development. Very few people actually make money off of it, especially in the mobile space.
 
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I do all kinds of development on a '13 Macbook Air 11". Core i7, 8GB ram. If it weren't for the super fast SSD I think I'd be a little hesitant at the 8GB... But I have absolutely no issues whatsoever, and I work with some pretty massive Xcode projects (including some games as well). I also use heavyweight apps like Photoshop and Unity at the same time as Xcode (even all 3 at once) and have zero issues. I love it!

I can say confidently that performance on the Air is perfectly fine for heavy-duty app development, so it really comes down to whether or not the portability is a big factor for you or not.

If you do go with the Air, I'd definitely get 8GB ram, Coure i7, and get a bigger SSD because those have much faster read/write speeds.
 
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