iOS The mac for developers?

[dannyjames8]

Hi, i'm going to start developing apps for the iPhone and just thought i would ask some advice as to what would be a good mac for the job.

I'm torn between the MBP 15" 2.4Ghz and the iMac 27" i5.

do you think the 15" would be fine or i would more screen real estate so i should go for the 27"?

Thanks

 

[TuffLuffJimmy]

Well do you need the mobility? The more screen real estate the better. It can get a little cramped coding on a 15 inch screen.

 

[robbieduncan]

I'm quite happy with a 15" MBP. Although I have gone for the hi-res screen on my new one (please arrive soon).

 

[ranguvar]

Get the 13" MBP and a 24" external monitor. If you're not developing huge apps that take ages to compile, you don't need great performance.

 

[skunkworker]

Get the 13" MBP and a 24" external monitor. If you're not developing huge apps that take ages to compile, you don't need great performance.

For my macbookpro setup I have a 15" mbp hooked up to a cheap dell 23". If you don't need professional color correction you can get a dell 24" monitor for less then $200.

 

[dazcox5181]

Do all of my iPhone development on a MSI Wind running 10.6.2
(and occasionally on the wifes 17" MBP)
Having said that it is connected to an external 22" 1080P display, but processor wise has no issues.

 

[dejo]

If you're thinking of developing for the iPad, get as much screen resolution as you can, so that you can minimize (if not eliminate) scrolling within the Simulator.

 

[flyingturtle]

Love my MBP 15". I connect my 24" monitor to it and I'm a happy camper.

However, the need for portability has gone done for me so I'd buy a 27" iMac now over the MBP. You get more bang for your buck with the iMac.

For coding, the extra screen space is a must -- having multiple Xcode windows open, and your iPad simimulator (if coding for that) takes up a lot of space on the screen.

 

[MrCrispy]

I love my 15" MBP. Living in Florida, I often times sit out at a restaurant by the beach or St. John's river and code. Especially this time of year when the weather is just perfect.

 

[dannyjames8]

Thank everyone for your great advice, i think i am going to get the 27" and then start saving up for a macbook, i already have a sony laptop so i will stick to that when im moving around the house

 

[andrewstephenso]

I started out on a MacBook Air, plenty power and the SSD was wonderful. However, I've had it replaced twice and repaired once, it's heading to Ebay soon.

Very recently I bought a hi-res MacBook Pro with the i7 CPU.

Compile times are much faster, opening apps is much slower (no SSD). The higher screen resolution makes developing easier as I can have everything on one screen.

The only downside was that I was hoping that the vertical 1050 pixels would be enough to take full screen screenshots of the iPad simulator - it can't, still using landscape screenshots for the AppStore.

Having said all that, I was using a Samsung NC10 for a few months and managed to get a fair amount of stuff done on it

I mainly code during my train commute each morning so a laptop is a must, 27" machine would be amazing.