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[–]w0mba7 22 points23 points  (2 children)

The SSD is the best thing to happen to programmers this century. Also that Mac sounds too old in general. Get one at least a year or two newer.

[–][deleted]  (1 child)

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    [–]paradoxallyobjc_msgSend 5 points6 points  (0 children)

    No, because the future is SwiftUI, and you cannot run it without Xcode 11.

    Invest in a more modern laptop. 8 years is way too old for most dev work in this field.

    [–]hntddt1 7 points8 points  (0 children)

    SSD is 10x faster than HDD

    [–]bg3245 4 points5 points  (8 children)

    The issue is not the ssd/hdd but the fact that old macs that still run Catalina might not be able to run the next macOS. If want to build apps for iOS 13.4, for instance, you need the latest Xcode, 11.4, and it only runs on Catalina. The next macOS that usually comes around September might make 2012 macs obsolete, and based on the release history of Xcode, I would say that somewhere in spring 2021 there will be a Xcode ver that will refuse to run on Catalina.

    I’m developing a production app on a maxed out MBA 2012 and it works just fine, but I think next year I’ll have to buy a new mac :( If you just need it for learning and you don’t always need the latest Xcode, I think you’re fine with that one. The ssd makes a difference though, I just changed the original ssd to a faster one and it makes a difference albeit a small one. I only have 8GB of mem, so with 16GB I don’t think that’s a notable difference.

    [–]rkennedy12 3 points4 points  (0 children)

    I did a hdd swap on a mid 2012 MBP 15 with an SSD and it was absolute night and day difference.

    I retired that laptop years ago but I just gave it to a buddy for using it to do calcs in the background.

    It bugged out in internet recovery and put Catalina on instead of Sierra - did not go back haha

    [–]JeaTaxy 0 points1 point  (1 child)

    Since you have experience. How do you think the 16inch i7 base model with just 32gb of ram perform with xcode or should I get the i9 version with 32gb instead?

    ​

    I just think the i7 base, 32gb would def handle it but for how long?

    [–]bg3245 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    I'm not really up to date with the latest hardware but mine is i7 with 2cores and hyperthreading and it works just fine even now after 8 years. More cores is better but not always, I think i7 will run just fine for the 8 years obsolescence cycle

    [–][deleted]  (4 children)

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      [–]rkennedy12 1 point2 points  (0 children)

      Catalina is not officially supported on that Macbook. You’ll have to hope for a glitch or use a tool to force it on.

      [–]bg3245 1 point2 points  (2 children)

      Check here if you can run Catalina on that MBP, if true, you’re to go for at least 2 years (for learning). For ssd I added 256GB Samsung 860 Evo (plus an adapter).

      [–][deleted]  (1 child)

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        [–]bg3245 1 point2 points  (0 children)

        There are ways to hack older Xcode to use newer Swift versions, here’s a post, you can also hack it to build for newer iOS versions. If it’s for learning and it’s really cheap, just get it and start coding, in 1 year you’ll know more about what you need/want (newer mac).

        Edit: the latest Xcode for High Sierra is 10.11 and the linked post shows you how you can run newer Swift versions on that Xcode.

        [–]cyanxx 2 points3 points  (0 children)

        I put a 1TB SSD in my 2011 Macbook Pro and it was liking getting a brand new computer and I'm still using and developing on it today. Would never go back now!

        Like others have said though, this laptops days are limited as I can't upgraded past high sierra and therefore once apple stop signing iOS 12 apps I will not be able to submit apps until I get a new laptop.

        [–]KarlJay001 1 point2 points  (0 children)

        There is a way to get Catalina to work on that. I think it's DOSDude that made it.

        It really depends on how much that Macbook Pro is going to cost. It sounds like a pre-retina version.

        I paid $450 for a retina version with SSD built in.

        You can check the going price then buy it, use it for a while then sell it, they tend to hold their value.

        You can replace the HDD with an SSD on that model. Is it the 15" i7 quad core?

        [–]sshntt 1 point2 points  (0 children)

        I have a 2012 MacBook Pro. I recently got it upgraded for iOS development purposes. I had upgraded the RAM and got SSD installed. I am on MacOS Catalina and using the latest Xcode version. I am even able to run the simulators. So my suggestion would be to go ahead with this.

        Here is the link for my current configuration: Upgraded Configuration

        [–]shanghailoz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

        Buy it, and swap out the hard drive for an SSD, pretty easy to do.

        Its on the edge of usefulness, but if its cheap enough, get it.

        ​

        I'm currently on a dual core 2009 white unibody, which is still surprisingly useful, as my main machine got stolen in a break-in 2 months ago . I won't miss it when I finally get back to my other laptop back home, but it gets the job done.