MacBook Air Xcode and Development?

[MrBellamy]

Currently I have a 2008 unibody MacBook Pro C2D 2.4 Ghz with 4 Gb Ram that I use for college cs major usually using xcode, iTunes, safari and mail. The problem I keep having is my MacBook Pro heats up pretty fast and slows way down.
I'm thinking about a 13 inch 2.13ghz and 4 gb ram MacBook Air or 1.6 ghz 11.6 except I'm worried will I be taking a performance hit, and also does the new MacBook air get hot fast.
Really what's important to me is Xcode iOS development performance I don't really play games.

 

[GreyMatta]

Currently I have a 2008 unibody MacBook Pro C2D 2.4 Ghz with 4 Gb Ram that I use for college cs major usually using xcode, iTunes, safari and mail. The problem I keep having is my MacBook Pro heats up pretty fast and slows way down.
I'm thinking about a 13 inch 2.13ghz and 4 gb ram MacBook Air or 1.6 ghz 11.6 except I'm worried will I be taking a performance hit, and also does the new MacBook air get hot fast.
Really what's important to me is Xcode iOS development performance I don't really play games.

I am in the same boat as you but with the 2009 C2D 2.6.Ghz. I am leaning towards the fully loaded 13".

On a bit of a tangent how does the 320m compare to the 9400 on the MBP ?

 

[vow]

Xcode will be perfectly fine on the 13".

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-320M.28701.0.html for 320m performance. Apple also has a comparison that claims it is up to 80% faster than the 9400m.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

Was wondering the same thing myself, but the store model didn't have Xcode installed and the "very bright" Apple salesman hadn't heard of Xcode before and went to the MBA webpages to validate the MBA even came with Xcode! I don't expect Apple store employees to know how to code but I can't believe they aren't told what comes with OS X.

Mat go back today and try for a sharper tack.

 

[GreyMatta]

Xcode will be perfectly fine on the 13".

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-320M.28701.0.html for 320m performance. Apple also has a comparison that claims it is up to 80% faster than the 9400m.

Thanks for the link

 

[Dmac77]

Was wondering the same thing myself, but the store model didn't have Xcode installed and the "very bright" Apple salesman hadn't heard of Xcode before and went to the MBA webpages to validate the MBA even came with Xcode! I don't expect Apple store employees to know how to code but I can't believe they aren't told what comes with OS X.

Mat go back today and try for a sharper tack.

You're not alone; when I was at my local Store this weekend, I asked the "specialist" if they had the 1.6 GHz 11" model in stock, at which point he informed me that "the MBA doesn't have a processor, that's what allows the instant on feature to work."

Back in 2007, when I bought my iMac, I was informed that only fully loaded Mac Pro has the hardware to be able to install Photoshop CS3, at which point I walked out and called Apple customer relations to inform them of how stupid their employees are, I was met with the response of "the iMac isn't meant for any type of professional level apps." I just hung up.

I'm not kidding at all.

Anyways, I don't see why the 2.13 GHz 13" or the 1.6 GHz 11.6" couldn't handle xCode. At most you'd be losing a few seconds to a minute of time when you go to compile your source code.

-Don

 

[73CortinaV8]

Currently I have a 2008 unibody MacBook Pro C2D 2.4 Ghz with 4 Gb Ram that I use for college cs major usually using xcode, iTunes, safari and mail. The problem I keep having is my MacBook Pro heats up pretty fast and slows way down.
I'm thinking about a 13 inch 2.13ghz and 4 gb ram MacBook Air or 1.6 ghz 11.6 except I'm worried will I be taking a performance hit, and also does the new MacBook air get hot fast.
Really what's important to me is Xcode iOS development performance I don't really play games.

I'm interested in getting a MBA 13 for development too.

I have no doubt the performance will be adequate. (xcode performs well even inside a hackintosh vmware instance older c2d windows machine).

I think the bigger issue will be screen real-estate. I'm somewhat unsure if 1440x900 on a 13" display will cut it.