I carry out all my development on my windows box but need to get a mac to do test/release builds and never having crossed to the dark side I’d like some advice please.
I was thinking of getting a mac book air as this seems to be the cheapest option. Will this play nicely with Corona or should I go for something else?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated before I splash the cash. [import]uid: 51494 topic_id: 13135 reply_id: 313135[/import]
Cheapest route I found without buying used was a Mac Mini using a USB KVM switch. Didn’t need to buy a separate keyboard, mouse and monitor.
I bought them both from amazon.com. These are the items with their pricing.
-Mac Mini MC270LL/A Desktop: $664.05
-IOGEAR 2-Port USB KVM Switch with Cables and Remote GCS22U (Black): $19.99
Stephen [import]uid: 56820 topic_id: 13135 reply_id: 48210[/import]
you’re best bet is …
go on ebay, and look for one of the older macbook core duo’s (not core 2 duos).
you can find them for no more than $350.
I bought a couple of them for my kids and they actually run really good.
2.0 ghz core duo, 80 gb hd, 2 gb ram. paid $325.
and they aren’t junk, they really are good machines (of course not as fast as the I7’s, but not bad at all)
[import]uid: 55711 topic_id: 13135 reply_id: 48218[/import]
Thanks anderoth and kramonas.
Why not a core 2 duo? [import]uid: 51494 topic_id: 13135 reply_id: 48234[/import]
Core 2 duo will be slightly more expensive, but it would be worth it as you can run the latest OS X builds then like lion. [import]uid: 68741 topic_id: 13135 reply_id: 48237[/import]
yes but he asked for cheap for testing… doesn’t need lion.
i’m just sayin’ they are good little machines for the price… they might even be cheaper now that the macbook has been discontinued. I bought mine for the kids last xmas time.
BTW, if your looking for a REAL development machine, the 27" iMac is the best. huge screen, not that bad a price, and you can run windows using base camp.
With base camp, you can run the windows phone 7 emulator.
Just the 2560 X 1440 display is worth the cost of the whole iMac.
[import]uid: 55711 topic_id: 13135 reply_id: 48238[/import]
If he’s gonna spend 350 on a new computer, id say spend 50-100 more on a better computer, then you can keep upto date with apples software. You can also run windows in bootcamp if you like, maybe even in parallels with a better processor. [import]uid: 68741 topic_id: 13135 reply_id: 48239[/import]
thanks for the advice guys. If I got a machine running OSX10.6.7 Snow Leopard would that be OK. I really am a complete mac noob. What are the advantages of going to Lion? [import]uid: 51494 topic_id: 13135 reply_id: 48240[/import]
Most (US) Best Buy stores still have open-box white MacBooks, which have just been discounted due to product end-of-life. Right now, that is your best bet. You still get the 1 year apple care included, a (practically) new machine, and a great price ($800-900) [import]uid: 18951 topic_id: 13135 reply_id: 48242[/import]
Yeah that would be fine, you can get most of apples updates then, you can see lions advantages on the apple website. Best to get the latest operating system so then you can get all of apples updates/fixes. If you look at people running leopard (not snow leopard) now they can’t get the new itunes or safari.
Something like this under 350 would be fine:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Apple-MacBook-Pro-Core-2-Duo-2-66GHz-13-4GB-320GB-NR-/230655047756?pt=Apple_Laptops&hash=item35b41cb84c#ht_2030wt_1374 [import]uid: 68741 topic_id: 13135 reply_id: 48241[/import]
Personally, i think lion has been a pain-in-the-neck… In hindsite, i wish i didn’t upgrade.
10.6.7 is just fine.
[import]uid: 55711 topic_id: 13135 reply_id: 48244[/import]
I would suggest that if you are making an investment, go for a MBA, these are now equipped with i5 and i7 chips, and 4GB RAM, these are decent laptops. You can use these as your primary machine as well as for developing using Corona.
What’s the point in trying to save a few bucks and then ending up spending the same again for reasons like upgrade, etc.
Neways, that’s my 2 bits,
cheers,
?
[import]uid: 3826 topic_id: 13135 reply_id: 48285[/import]
Buy what you can afford.
[import]uid: 13560 topic_id: 13135 reply_id: 48293[/import]
Mac Minis are a decent option. I bought one 2 years ago for app development and it runs Corona and the Simulator etc just fine. [import]uid: 26769 topic_id: 13135 reply_id: 48296[/import]
Of all the devs I know who have needed cheaper Macs to get into things with, the vast majority bought and recommend Mac Minis.
I don’t have a personal opinion, but hopefully that helps
Peach [import]uid: 52491 topic_id: 13135 reply_id: 48333[/import]
Thanks to all for the responses. I’ve mangaed to score a mac from a friend on an extended borrow so I’m going to have a play and lose my mac virginity then make a decision.
Thanks again to all for the great advice.
Oh, and I expect I may be asking some bone questions on the apple developer program shortly [import]uid: 51494 topic_id: 13135 reply_id: 48425[/import]
When I started Corona development, I was using a 2010 Core 2 Duo White Macbook (which is now Biffy’s), and it was perfect for Corona development.
It was a little underpowered for me though, because I do a lot of Photoshop and always have a billion browser tabs open so I ended up getting one of the Macbook Pros that came out earlier this year, and that one is even better for Corona SDK development (obviously).
You’re pretty much guaranteed safe with any of Apple’s *current* line-up.
I myself have my eye on one of the new Macbook Airs that just came out… [import]uid: 52430 topic_id: 13135 reply_id: 48438[/import]
I’m going to recommend you get at least a Mac with a Core 2 Duo processor and avoid Core Solo or Core Duo. More specifically, I recommend you avoid any Mac that doesn’t support 64-bit. The reason is Apple is moving to making all their apps 64-bit and the end is near for 32-bit. It would not surprise me if Lion is the last 32-bit release.
For Corona, even though we are 32-bit today, Apple is putting enormous pressure on us to move to 64-bit. The reason is that Apple is continuing to enhance and evolve Objective-C. It is impossible for them to make any changes to the Mac 32-bit Obj-C runtime or they break all existing shipping binaries. But due to a lot of advance planning they did with the 64-bit runtime, and no backwards compatibility issues before Leopard, they can and have been adding powerful features to Obj-C. Since iOS has no real backwards compatibility issues either, Apple adds the same features to iOS.
As a consequence, as iOS adds more and more capabilities, for our Mac simulator to keep up, we have an enormous incentive to use the share the same code base whenever possible. In order to do that, we will be under more and more pressure to use the same language features provided in iOS which requires us to move to 64-bit on Mac.
Consider this an advance warning. I don’t know when we are going to move to 64-bit, but we are already feeling the pressure.
*EDIT* Dig some digging…Apple’s 64-bit switch has already occurred. Lion already requires 64-bit machines, meaning Snow Leopard was the last 32-bit release.
[import]uid: 7563 topic_id: 13135 reply_id: 48452[/import]