Seeking Advice: Best Apple Laptop for Coding?

Question

arthurappledev OP

Created Feb ’24

Replies 2

Boosts 1

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Participants 3

Hey Developers,

I'm on the hunt for a new Apple laptop geared towards coding, and I'd love to tap into your collective wisdom. If you have recommendations or personal experiences with a specific model that excels in the coding realm, please share your insights. Looking for optimal performance and a seamless coding experience.

Your input is gold – thanks a bunch!

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Answer 1

Claude31 OP

Feb ’24

Welcome to the forum.

Several elements make the performance of a Mac for development.

I assume you intend to buy a new one, not refurbished, so no issue on the OS version it can support. They will all support latest OS and latest Xcode.

Of course, your budget is a key factor.

IMHO, order of importance:

available memory (RAM): 16 GB on an M-Mac is needed for serious development. If you can afford more, just better as M-Mac RAM cannot be upgraded.
Disk Storage. 1 TB is really a minimum for serious development on Xcode. 500 GB are too rapidly filled. 2 TB is of course more future proof. Here also, note that storage cannot be increased.
Screen Size. 15" is a good compromise. Smaller would make development really painful. I personally prefer a 15" plus an external monitor (very useful) than a bulky 17" that will nevertheless fall short of your need.
Processor speed and number of cores is not a major point for Xcode development. Don't spend too much just to get the fastest.
Finally, an external keyboard and mouse are interesting when you work with an external monitor.

Hope that helps

2

Answer 2

DTS Engineer OP

Apple

Feb ’24

The only place I disagree with Claude31 is here:

Disk Storage. 1 TB is really a minimum for serious development on Xcode.

I have a lot of storage on my Mac, but only because I create a lot of virtual machines for testing. Without that, I think I’d easily fit in 500 MB.

Having said that, my daughter’s MacBook Air has 500 MB and she’s now complaining that she can’t install Unity and Unreal at the same time )-: So I guess it depends on what sort of development you’re planning.

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