iOS Want to make sure I purchase correct MacBook

[wannabdev]

As my profile name indicates I am looking into learning iOS development. I am new to this whole thing and I want to make sure I purchase the best machine for me. I know I'll need XCode to learn Swift.
I'm currently looking at MacBook Pro or Air and in various years. I see from Apple's site I will be able to run High Sierra on 2009 and later machines. My question is if I purchase say a 2008 MacBook will I still be able to run XCode and learn Swift? What year machine should I look to purchase? I cannot afford a brand new one so used is my only option for now.

 

[firewood]

Note that Stanford's iOS/Swift class has around 1 year woth of prerequisite requirements (and not easy courses at that). Not all students make it that far, so for some students the answer to "how long" is never. Others catch on more quickly, and have an easy-to-do app coded and finished in weeks/months. Depends on native problem solving ability, logical thinking, persistence, time spent, and etc.

Any Mac that can run the latest customer release of macOS will do. Apple occasionally updates Xcode such that a Mac that can't run the latest major full release of macOS can no longer be used for iOS development for the latest devices. So paying for a pre-2010 Mac for iOS work is extremely risky. Better to get a slightly newer Mac, even with the minimal RAM and storage needed for Xcode.

 

[TokMok3]

As my profile name indicates I am looking into learning iOS development. I am new to this whole thing and I want to make sure I purchase the best machine for me. I know I'll need XCode to learn Swift.
I'm currently looking at MacBook Pro or Air and in various years. I see from Apple's site I will be able to run High Sierra on 2009 and later machines. My question is if I purchase say a 2008 MacBook will I still be able to run XCode and learn Swift? What year machine should I look to purchase? I cannot afford a brand new one so used is my only option for now.

Because you are learning, you will be fine with a Mac mini 2012 with 8GB of Ram or a MacBook Air 2013 with 8GB of RAM, Xcode 9 is a big program, it takes 14GB after installation and the simulators will suck all the memory of the system. You will not be able to run Xcode on a 2008 or 2009 system.

Good luck!