I need a portable Mac for iPhone / iPad development. I bought and am using a 15" MBP matte display right now. It cost $2400 and is hard on my eyes because the resolution is 1680 x 1050. I'm thinking of returning it and getting a different laptop, but which one? My usage pattern is that I see myself shuttling this computer to and from work while spending about 70% of my time developing with this connected to a monitor, etc. However, for that 30% of the time I want to comfortably be able to use emacs in a terminal and run XCode to compile changes to my iPhone application and try them out.
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A:
I find Xcode 3.2 is perfectly usable on a 13" macbook, with condensed mode and ungrouped editor Windows. However the iPad simulator doesn't fit on the screen. I would imagine that "bigger is better" might soon become the rule.
Graham Lee
2010-06-20 10:44:32
This ended up being the solution. I gave the MacBook Pro 13" a look. I had dismissed it as the 13" MacBook gave me headaches. Then tried the MacBook Pro 15" matte display that strained my eyes because of the small fonts and high res. The 13" MacBook Pro appears to be the sweet spot for me. Better display than the MacBook but a standard resolution comparable to my old laptop. And XCode does indeed comfortable run in it. Additionally, Ubuntu under VMWare (the server part of my app) runs great with that amount of memory. Wish it had a discrete GPU, but it will do for now. Thanks.
Preston Crawford
2010-06-21 02:44:06
A:
I fail to see how this is a programming question, but to keep it short - any newer MacBook/iMac/Mac Pro will be able to run XCode without bigger problems.
However, if your only concern is the screen size/resolution, you could get a MacBook/MBP and hook it up with your favorite LCD monitor.
Denis 'Alpheus' Čahuk
2010-06-20 10:45:48
The question is really, as someone new to portable Macs, what can people comfortably use day to day to do development. I see it as programming related because I'm asking for the advice of people who have actually been programming for the iPhone and might have experience doing so on a notebook. I don't want to spend much more time thinking about this or changing my mind. So I want the advice of people who have spent hours and hours with XCode and have comfortably worked with a given display. Size, color, etc.
Preston Crawford
2010-06-20 11:01:04
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A:
I cart around a 17" MacBook Pro, because IMHO it's the best compromise between screen real estate — of which you can never have enough — and portability, so I can go work at my local, very busy Starbucks and enjoy the lovely coffee-drinking scenery.
Gregory Higley
2010-06-20 10:49:32
A:
Maybe changing the font size in XCode will help with the eye-strain?
See this question for more.
corvuscorax
2010-06-20 11:00:11
I looked at that question. That addresses font size of the actual code, but given the high resolution of the MBP I'm currently using it's the system fonts that are the real pain. I am struggling with the size of the fonts that name the files being so small. The names of files are tiny.
Preston Crawford
2010-06-20 11:04:30