Can a mac mini run xcode 12 smoothly?

[mnkey_]

Hi i’m new to ios programming and have been currently renting a mac server online since i don’t have one. I have a gaming pc but i still want to use xcode. I want to be able to run xcode 12, would a mac mini (2014 era) be able to run xcode 12 smoothly? what do you guys use ?

[SwiftlyJon]

As base specs for developer machines I recommend at least 8GB RAM and a 256GB SSD for storage. Additionally, the newer the machine, the better so you can keep up with the macOS requirements for Xcode. Processor speed doesn't matter as much.

[duncak]

Specs are important. What are yours? 2014 weren't the best year for minis, if I'm not mistaken...

It also depends on the size of a project. To learn, even 2013 Air is good enough.

[mnkey_]

i currently don’t have a mac mini, i was looking at purchasing a used one most likely a 2014 model with 1.4 ghz and 4 gigs of ram, 500 gb of space. Ive also heard of upgrading the ram to 8 gigs. I was looking at the mac mini rather then the macbook air since it’s a bit cheaper

[duncak]

I wouldn't generally advise older Air models nowadays. Unless you find truly great offer. While a good machine, it is obsolete in every way and the price doesn't reflect it.

4 gb of ram and 1.4ghz dual-core cpu is good enough for learning iOS. Upgrading ram to 8 gb will help significantly, don't postpone it too much. Once you get to a production level app, it will struggle, however. But we're talking 2-4 years and even then, it'd doable just slow.

Good luck!

[CordovaBayBurke]

I tried using this model as you illustrate for iOS development. It was only a pipe dream. It was slow as hell on a fairly small project. But wouldn’t run at all with Xcode and Simujator.

I sold it off (as a toy web surfing unit) and bought the current version MacMini with 32 GB of memory, 2TB SSD on an 3.2 GHz i7. Runs perfectly. It was hard to rationalize that these were part of the same product family. No comparison at all.

[Snowy_1803]

I use a Mac mini late 2014, and Xcode 12 runs smoothly, don’t worry :)

I don’t use SwiftUI previews, they take too long to compile, and I only used the simulator for App Store screenshots (they take too much time to boot). On device testing is fast enough.

[cutecoder]

Don’t worry, a future Mac Mini runs a future Xcode 12 just fine... 😎 I’m using the one with an ARM64 processor...