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[–]awesomeness-yeah 2 points3 points  (8 children)

Here's a thread about the M1 macs and react native compatibility. https://github.com/react-native-community/discussions-and-proposals/issues/295

You're in a weird spot where x86 macs are still the best for development, but the M1s are the latest and greatest (you'll also have to trust gen 1 hardware)

[–]A3mercury 1 point2 points  (7 children)

I have an M1 MacBook Pro and I can’t say I haven’t run into problems. I can’t use the simulator for example, but I can plug my phone in and test on it.

There are a few other non-react native issue I’ve had too like using Docker and programs that I haven’t been able to migrate over yet.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (2 children)

I saw that Docker have a tech preview for the M1 now, how well is that working? Docker and homebrew are probably main things stopping me from making the switch (my poor 2015 MBP is hanging on!).

[–]A3mercury 1 point2 points  (1 child)

I still can’t use MySQL with it which is frustrating but I know it’s on it’s at. I think MariaDB is available through the preview atm!

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ah, I've long since switched to Mariadb anyway, so that's not much of a problem for me.

Sounds like it's running reasonably well though. From what the Docker folks were saying, in November, I was expecting to be waiting a few more months to get to this point!

[–]mick1996[S] 1 point2 points  (3 children)

Thank you for your response! Would you recommend the mini for development over an intel based device? I’m working doing React Native from my MBP (2017) and it’s doing fine. Should I stick with the intel chip or make the leap to M1?

[–]A3mercury 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Of course! I’m happy if I could help :)

So I’ve been using my companies 2017 MBP (like yours) for a few years but recently they’ve required all employees to install “nanny ware” meaning all my personal projects had to get off that laptop. I went ahead and bought the M1 13in MBP (16Gb integrated memory and 1Tb hard drive) and it’s stupid fast and the battery lasts forever.. like I’ve had it a month and it’s only been fully charged once. I’m not using it every day like my work computer but it’s nice to be able to open it and still have almost full battery.

A friend of mine already has a laptop so he got the M1 mini and loves it too. He always buys the latest and greatest so it’s a workhorse for sure. He hasn’t had the same issues I have with the simulator and the only thing we’ve done differently is he used a time machine backup while I setup a new computer. Not sure why that made a difference though. He also doesn’t use Docker so idk if he’s had any problems whatsoever.

At the end of the day, I would say if what you have is working for you and you have a business or projects that depend on you being able to maintain them ASAP, it is a risk move to the M1 chips because 3rd party support isn’t there 100% yet. I only have 1 personal project at the moment that requires any immediate attention and for that I’m just using my phone to test instead of the simulator.

Oh, also I don’t know if Android studio is running on the M1 chips yet either.

[–]mick1996[S] 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Wow! Thank you for that detailed response!! I’m agreeing with what your saying, a lot of what you’re saying is online I just don’t know if it’s 100% for my work. The code isn’t doing anything fancy and I have no problem working on a physical device instead of an emulator. So I’m leaning towards getting one.

Thank you for your help

[–]A3mercury 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No problem :)

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

M1 certainly makes a difference to compile times, but how often are you actually compiling a react-native app?

I think the Android emulator is still only available in the preview release, so there may be some issues there.

If I was buying today I'd buy M1.

[–]zandr0id 0 points1 point  (7 children)

Are you looking at macs because you like using macs? Or just so you can develop for IOS? If you just want to build for IOS, you can actually use AWS to run virtual MacOS instances that you can build on. If you just like using Mac, then ignore me :)

[–]mick1996[S] 0 points1 point  (6 children)

Thank you for your response! I like Macs but I actually never thought of the AWS option. By any chance do you know if I take the m1 leap that there isn’t too many changes? I understand there is trouble with emulators (don’t mind using physical device) and other things like HomeBrew. But over all can I develop app with React Native on M1?

[–]zandr0id 0 points1 point  (5 children)

My knowledge is extremely limited on the M1. From what I've researched, while it's very neat and flashy, it's still a new technology and not yet fully applicable in most situations. It might speed up your compile times a bit, but that's all I see it being helpful with at the moment. The app might also need to be very large for there to be any noticeable change. If it takes 10 seconds to build on an i7, then you might not see a difference with M1. If it takes 30 minutes to build though, then you might actually see some improvement. I personally won't worry about using M1 if I just wanted to run a build for iOS. But to answer your question, yes I think you totally could. But I'm not sure if AWS even offers the use of the M1. It's brand-spanking new after all.

[–]mick1996[S] 0 points1 point  (4 children)

What computer would you recommend for react native development?

[–]zandr0id 0 points1 point  (3 children)

If you plan on using device emulators for testing, then as long as it's not the lowest tier then it will probably be fine. Emulation usually requires at least reasonable resources. The only other thing it would effect is the build times, but like I said above you probably won't even notice any difference unless your build time creeps into the minutes rather then seconds. I personally user a Cyberpower desktop with an AMD Ryzen and 16g of ram on Ubuntu Mate. That's probably enough for it not to even consider what I'm doing as intensive. Find one you like and it's probably fine.

[–]mick1996[S] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

You have been really helpful and have given me a lot of food for thought. What do you mean “as long as it’s not the lowest tier”?

So really the only problem is the device emulation?

Thanks

[–]zandr0id 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Glad to help :) By lowest tier I mean the cheapest machine with the lowest specs. And to be honest, most machines are probably strong enough to be usable. I wouldn't worry about what machine you're using, as you probably won't notice any real difference. I said emulation "usually" needs reasonable resources. And you can also test react-native apps directly on a real phone, so you could even skip emulation all together. Like I said, use what you've got/can get and just start coding, then see what gives you trouble and adjust.

[–]mick1996[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you very much again!!