I'm about to buy a Mac Mini so I can develop an iPhone application.
The details are:
1.42ghz
1gb ram
75gb
OS 10.5.08
Is this good enough for developing an iPhone application?
views:
661answers:
4
A:
Assuming you are buying new and therefore have an Intel chip, then it would do. Get more memory if you can - but the rest is fine. You'd probably end up with Mac OS X 10.6.1 if you are buying new, though.
If you're buying secondhand and it is a PPC Mac Mini, then I would recommend saving your money to get an Intel one.
Jonathan Leffler
2009-10-14 20:02:30
There are no new Mac minis with only 1.42 GHz processors and 75 GB disks...
MrMage
2009-10-14 20:04:00
As others have mentioned, iPhone development is not supported on PPC, so if it's a PPC Mac Mini, don't buy it.
Thomas Müller
2009-10-14 20:12:48
So, given that is is a PPC Mac Mini, the second paragraph stands; save your money. There's nothing to stop you buying it; it just won't do what you want.
Jonathan Leffler
2009-10-16 21:21:04
+9
A:
If it has an Intel (e.g. Core Duo or Core 2 Duo) processor, the device will be sufficient to develop iPhone applications, but you might consider tossing in another Gigabyte of RAM and upgrading to Snow Leopard (both suggestions are not absolutely necessary).
Please note that you cannot develop iPhones on Mac with G4 or G5 processors.
/edit: According to MacTracker, it will be a Mac mini of the first generation, e.g. with a G4 processor (all others have different speeds). Don't buy it as you won't be able to develop iPhone applications with it.
MrMage
2009-10-14 20:03:16
+1
A:
looking at the processor speed i think that's a ppc, this URL might help:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/695558/development-for-iphone-on-ppc-based-computer
John Boker
2009-10-14 20:04:13
+2
A:
According to this wikipedia article, the 1.42Ghz Mac Mini model is the PowerPC G4 model. This means that you cannot develop applications which target iPhone OS 3.0, according to this mailing list thread, since some tools are no longer Universal Binaries.
Jorge Israel Peña
2009-10-14 20:09:51
I was referring to the "since some tools are no longer Universal Binaries."
Matt S.
2009-10-14 23:24:22
Some people used to do 'hacks' to be able to develop on PPC prior to iPhone SDK 3.0. Sources: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/563332/how-to-properly-develop-for-the-iphone-on-a-powerpc-mac and http://stackoverflow.com/questions/37822/is-it-just-the-iphone-simulator-that-is-restricted-to-intel-only-macs
Jorge Israel Peña
2009-10-14 23:45:51