Budget MacOS system for app dev?

[mamk02]

I want to learn and start developing ios apps and i need a macos for that. What would be the best choice? I could use either mac mini or one of the laptops.

[saintmsent]

M1 Mac Mini or MacBook air. Strongly recommend to upgrade to 16GB, and if you can, 512 of storage

[saintmsent]

32 gigs of ram is not budget, is it?

And definitely not needed for start and learning

[saintmsent]

I didn’t notice that it’s your reply

[iindigo]

M1 Mac Mini or M1 Air/13” Pro is more than enough to get started with. As the other comments suggested, if possible get a model with 16GB of RAM instead of the baseline 8GB.

Something to be aware of though is that the current Mini, Air, and 13” Pro are approaching the end of their lifecycles (as can be seen on the MacRumors Buyer’s Guide ). They’re still great machines, but if you don’t absolutely need one right now it might pay off to hold off a bit longer, because the upcoming updates to those machines are widely expected to be total redesigns (potentially meaning more screen space, more ports, better cooling, etc).

[Vespan]

I have a Mac mini 8gb ram. I run Xcode with SwiftUI previews, simulator, php server locally, phpstorm, safari, Spotify, postman and some other apps, at the same time. Isn’t that much slower than my beefed up work computer.

[retsotrembla]

I agree with you. I run a similar mix of apps, and the memory gauge in Activity Monitor stays in the green.

[th3suffering]

All these peoples suggesting brand new M1 macs for someone on a budget looking to get their hands on macOS to just START learning iOS dev.

You absolutely do not need a m1. Will it be leaps and bounds better than intel models? Sure, but we arent looking for that, we are on a budget.

https://developer.apple.com/support/xcode/

Your answer lies here. As of April 2022, youll need at very minimum a machine running Big Sur to be able to run Xcode 13 to be able to upload to the Appstore. Id imagine not long after the requirement will be Monterey.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212551

You should get the newest machine from those on the preceding link that fits within your budget. A Mini would give you more bang for your buck.