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Wannabe iOS app developer, which MBP to get?

Wild_Rose

Wild_Rose

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 16, 2017
23
10
Greece
Hello everyone!

I'm about to purchase my 1st Mac! I already have a decent PC for what I'm doing right now (web design, video editing, Photoshop) but I wanna dive in to the Mac world. I'd like to learn and start developing apps with XCode, plus I'd love to have the best of both worlds for whatever use I want. (PC with Windows 10 and a laptop with OS X).

Now, my question is: which MacBook Pro should I buy to get the job done?

13" nTB MBP 2017 | 2.3GHz i5 dual core/IRIS Graphics 640/256GB SSD/16GB RAM) ~ 1600euros
13" wTB MBP 2017 | 3.1GHz i5 dual core/IRIS Graphics 650/256GB SSD/16GB RAM)(with 16GB RAM) ~ 1900 euros

Since I don't plan on using an external screen, I obviously would prefer the 15" model (plus the i7 quad core CPU would simply execute anything on its way) but it's so much more expensive.(And no, I wouldn't want to get a 2015 15" model...)

I plan on keeping this MacBook for at least 5 years. Is the non Touch Bar model powerful enough to keep me going, as I will be evolving on coding/developing, for more than 2 years? Or should I invest on the more powerful touch bar model?

I look forward to reading your thoughts/suggestions! thanks!
 
Screen too small, even a 15 inch would be small, now a 13 will make it very uncomfortable to work with.
 
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I'd done development work for years on an 11 inch 2011 mba. I also used it to do 3D modelling using sketchup (note that rendering would take several days to get a good result). I recently upgraded to the entry level 13 inch mbp (nTB version) and I've not had any performance issues or problems with the screen (and I'm 45 with 40 years of staring at screens).

Xcode runs without issue for me. Note that I've had to use eclipse for some smart TV projects and that was like pulling teeth - the installer stub would max out all CPUs and threads (4 in my case) just downloading the IDE. I think this was more of an issue with java than with the laptop.

I'd recommend getting what you're comfortable paying, installing Xcode on it and testing it for a few days. If you're not happy with it, take it back and upgrade to something else.

I might add also that I'd previously written code using a 386sx running at 16Mhz (so I guess I could be a bit biased as to what is sufficient for coding)
 
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Anything will be powerful enough to get the job done, getting a larger model will just result in slightly less time spent. Which if you're doing something as a hobbyist, is probably more valuable to you. They're all high end processors and stuff so it's best/better not terrible/fantastic.

As was mentioned just get something in your price range, and get the best you can there. Consider accessories/software into your budget. Then get the laptop and enjoy it. Yes a 15" would be better in the long run, but unless you are using both a 13" and a 15" in 5 years time you won't notice the minor speed difference.
 
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Performance-wise, it doesn't matter really, both will do the job just fine. In long term, consider getting an external display as it might make things more convenient.
 
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Honestly differences are minor however if you are going to run a lot on it at once the cooling on the touch bar version is much better.
 
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thanks everyone!
While i was messing around with a MBP 13" with touch bar at a local store, i totally forgot about the touch bar thing to be honest...I only consider it because its processor is better than the base model. I'll rethink my options and will get back to you!
 
hey guys, so I'm about to order the 2017 13" touch bar model, but I'm wondering if I can go with the standard 8GB of RAM so I can save some cash.... will XCode be Ok with heavy app coding?
 
Wild_Rose said:
hey guys, so I'm about to order the 2017 13" touch bar model, but I'm wondering if I can go with the standard 8GB of RAM so I can save some cash.... will XCode be Ok with heavy app coding?
Click to expand...
should get 16GB+512GB for smooth working and run emulator better , 512GB with faster disk speed for Xcode search of library and save of intermittent file ,
The faster CPU mostly help you save few seconds for build up. I have 8/256 Touchbar 3.1 2017 provided by company on working and I have 16/512 2.0 nTB 2016 at home, definitely nTB much smoother.
 
really? I was kinda sold on the Touch Bar model because it has better processor and graphics card (I might wanna do some video editing for fun at some point)... thanks for your input!
 
Wild_Rose said:
Hello everyone!

I'm about to purchase my 1st Mac! I already have a decent PC for what I'm doing right now (web design, video editing, Photoshop) but I wanna dive in to the Mac world. I'd like to learn and start developing apps with XCode, plus I'd love to have the best of both worlds for whatever use I want. (PC with Windows 10 and a laptop with OS X).

Now, my question is: which MacBook Pro should I buy to get the job done?

13" nTB MBP 2017 | 2.3GHz i5 dual core/IRIS Graphics 640/256GB SSD/16GB RAM) ~ 1600euros
13" wTB MBP 2017 | 3.1GHz i5 dual core/IRIS Graphics 650/256GB SSD/16GB RAM)(with 16GB RAM) ~ 1900 euros

Since I don't plan on using an external screen, I obviously would prefer the 15" model (plus the i7 quad core CPU would simply execute anything on its way) but it's so much more expensive.(And no, I wouldn't want to get a 2015 15" model...)

I plan on keeping this MacBook for at least 5 years. Is the non Touch Bar model powerful enough to keep me going, as I will be evolving on coding/developing, for more than 2 years? Or should I invest on the more powerful touch bar model?

I look forward to reading your thoughts/suggestions! thanks!
Click to expand...
Buy cheap and let the code pay for upgrades. I'd recommend a MacMini ( screen real estate is very important ) or a MacAir to start. After you've written some code and made some money, upgrade to your heart's desire.

I currently use a 2016 MBP15 about 70% of the time for XCode / SPA development. I use a 2015 iMac27(5k) for most of the rest of the development time.
 
get whatever you want. I'd recommend a quad core 15" since it helps speed up compile times if you're into that.

But any of the options you listed will do the job. I'm at my dev job typing away at a late 2011 MBP 13"... so... y'know... whatever
 
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Wild_Rose said:
thanks. I'd love to get the 15" but it's wayyy over my budget...
Click to expand...
The 13” will be fine for coding. It can drive external monitors too. Don’t forget you can connect to your TV as well if it has HDMI (wired) or you have an Apple TV (wireless). My son & I were using the TV last night so we didn’t have to huddle around my laptop while working on a game-building tutorial.

Anything graphically intensive you’d want to test on a device anyway because the devices handle graphics and animation way better than the simulator on your MBP. I was testing a super simple scene last night (3 SpriteKit nodes) and was getting 20-30FPS in simulator on my MBP 15 2017, but ran 60FPS on an iPhone SE without skipping a beat.

Still a bit blown away that my 15” laptop is set to 1680x1050 resolution, which is what my 20” iMac G5 had for screen resolution in 2004.
 
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Hey, i’ve used Xcode for simple tasks.

Using Xcode at a 2012 “11 MBA with base specs have worked fine! Sometimes i wished the screen was bigger but xcode rans really good. I pair the beta versions with high sierra on old equip and does ok. I don’t have doubts that it will run great in any 13” you pick. I don’t use simulated profiles, just tweak iOS system GPS for apps, but never noticed the program slow!
 
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PBG4 Dude said:
The 13” will be fine for coding. It can drive external monitors too. Don’t forget you can connect to your TV as well if it has HDMI (wired) or you have an Apple TV (wireless). My son & I were using the TV last night so we didn’t have to huddle around my laptop while working on a game-building tutorial.

Anything graphically intensive you’d want to test on a device anyway because the devices handle graphics and animation way better than the simulator on your MBP. I was testing a super simple scene last night (3 SpriteKit nodes) and was getting 20-30FPS in simulator on my MBP 15 2017, but ran 60FPS on an iPhone SE without skipping a beat.

Still a bit blown away that my 15” laptop is set to 1680x1050 resolution, which is what my 20” iMac G5 had for screen resolution in 2004.
Click to expand...
The main reason of using emulator is hard to get all size devices even in software company,
especially the old model or the latest model should need budget and approved by top,
the emulator much convenient for UI design, as hard to use the emulator for game design because poor graphic performance and bad input experiment.
 
evec said:
The main reason of using emulator is hard to get all size devices even in software company,
especially the old model or the latest model should need budget and approved by top,
the emulator much convenient for UI design, as hard to use the emulator for game design because poor graphic performance and bad input experiment.
Click to expand...
Yes, I agree, the simulator is great for pointing out auto layout issues (turn on the double-pseudotext option to see if your constraints are working correctly). The simulator works very well for non-gaming type applications. Never had a problem with my CoreData based apps, for example. Tableviews don’t have noticeable lag when scrolling, navigation works normally, etc.
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Wild_Rose said:
I'm not gonna do apps that will push the graphics card..
Click to expand...
You’ll be fine. Honestly. My 2012 11” MBA has no problem running Xcode and device simulators.
 
Wild_Rose said:
hey guys, so I'm about to order the 2017 13" touch bar model, but I'm wondering if I can go with the standard 8GB of RAM so I can save some cash.... will XCode be Ok with heavy app coding?
Click to expand...

It will be OK, you have no plans to run VM's so should be fine, of course if you open every app you have and hundreds of web pages and leave them open all the time you will run out of RAM and if that's your modus operandi then more RAM is a must for you. But if you can bear to occasionally close an app or god forbid a few web pages I'm sure you'll be fine.
 
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yeap that's what I'm thinking, although I'm pretty neat with the programs I use simultaneously, usually they're not more than 4 and up to 4-7 browser tabs. I'm going back and forth on the RAM thing because I know that after a couple of years I will want the 16GB RAM...
 
Wild_Rose said:
yeap that's what I'm thinking, although I'm pretty neat with the programs I use simultaneously, usually they're not more than 4 and up to 4-7 browser tabs. I'm going back and forth on the RAM thing because I know that after a couple of years I will want the 16GB RAM...
Click to expand...

I must admit I've had 8gb of RAM in my macbooks since 2010 and never even noticed either way even with 9 desktops open all running 3 or 4 large pdf's and safari for studying and a couple of protein modelling programs, I wouldn't worry too much.
 
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