Any iOS developers here?

[AntiChrist]

What's the best Mac to get for entry-level iOS development? Any recommendations? I don't know squat about Macs.

[cantthinkofanything]

What's the best Mac to get for entry-level iOS development? Any recommendations? I don't know squat about Macs.

Mac 10

[leemajors]

Mac Mini or hackintosh. ElNono would probably be the most help.

[baseline bum]

Mac 10

[ElNono]

What's the best Mac to get for entry-level iOS development? Any recommendations? I don't know squat about Macs.

If you want a no-frills setup and relatively cheap, and MacMini certainly fits the bill. You could also explore the refurbished section in the online Apple Store if you don't want to buy new but still have a warranty. You pick/provide your keyboard + mouse + monitor. I would suggest a monitor doing 1920x1200 at the very least if you're doing iPad dev too (to be able to fit a non-retina iPad screen on the sim). I would recommend going for the cheapest model, then buying any extra RAM and an SSD and doing the upgrade yourself. I still have a early 2009 MacMini at home upgraded to 8GB and SSD and it flies. Works well for development too. This kind of setup "just works(tm)".

Option B is a hackintosh. You'll have to do some research on the components you want to use for that (google TonyMac). In general, sticking to Gigabyte motherboards and a fairly current ATI/NVIDIA card works well. Stick to Ivy Bridge at least until 10.9 comes out. There's a variety of bootloaders you can use, with the most populars being: Chameleon, Chimera and for a full EFI boot loader, Clover. The main issue with hackintoshes is that you have to be in the lookout before doing any system updates, in case it breaks any non-built in drivers you might need. The benefit is obviously that it gives you an bigger upgrade path.

You can download XCode free from the Mac App Store app. To actually test on devices and publish to the iOS store, you need to register with Apple for a dev account ($100 yearly to publish to the iOS app store, more if you need a corporate setup to publish the apps internally for your company), and do some setup with certificates and registering your devices you want to use for development (you can do a lot of that from XCode directly). Send me a PM if you have questions.

[ElNono]

Here's the MacMini refurb section of the Apple Store:

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/hom...s/mac/mac_mini

[AntiChrist]

Thanks ElNono. I've been watching a MacBook Pro (circa 2011) on eBay that has really good specs, but it's at $500 with 4 hrs to go.

[AntiChrist]

I've also been looking at Craigslist, but it seems like that place is chock full of scammers.

[ElNono]

Thanks ElNono. I've been watching a MacBook Pro (circa 2011) on eBay that has really good specs, but it's at $500 with 4 hrs to go.

MacBooks work too. I personally don't like them for everyday development, because I prefer a larger keyboard and display. But if you're on the road a lot, they're a good option.

Keep in mind Apple eventually drops support for older hardware in new OS releases, but in general you do have a 5-6 year window, so 2011 will probably be supported for another 4-5 years.