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Ask HN: Can you do IOS/XCode development on Mac Mini (1.4 Ghz)

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Re: Ask HN: Can you do IOS/XCode development on Mac Mini (1.4 Ghz)

#11

Post by neilxdsouza »

daven11 wrote: post #9
neilxdsouza wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. I just saw that. I cant reply to your comment directly as there is no reply button below your comment (probably nested too deep). stackexchange might be a good place to check. I think the 2012 mac mini was eating into their higher end machine sales and crippling the 2014 mac mini is move on their part to counter this.

oh, I just had a look and the base model doesn't have an SSD - I'd really not consider developing without an SSD any more. It will work but compile times are slower, how much I couldn't say. But then I've developed for years without an SSD before that so... ( the reply link appears after a few minutes)

That's why I thought of 16Gb Ram. I'm thinking, The whole of XCode and the compiler and my program source would be in the buffer cache. So after the initial loading from disk, the dev experience would be quite smooth (that's the guess I'm making).

Re: Ask HN: Can you do IOS/XCode development on Mac Mini (1.4 Ghz)

#12

Post by daven11 »

neilxdsouza wrote: post #11
daven11 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

oh, I just had a look and the base model doesn't have an SSD - I'd really not consider developing without an SSD any more. It will work but compile times are slower, how much I couldn't say. But then I've developed for years without an SSD before that so... ( the reply link appears after a few minutes)

That's why I thought of 16Gb Ram. I'm thinking, The whole of XCode and the compiler and my program source would be in the buffer cache. So after the initial loading from disk, the dev experience would be quite smooth (that's the guess I'm making).

Indeed, and you could do the old trick of making a ram disk for your compiles

Re: Ask HN: Can you do IOS/XCode development on Mac Mini (1.4 Ghz)

#13

Post by equalarrow »

__Joker wrote: post #10

I work with 128 GB SSD + 8 GB RAM. I think less RAM is fine, if you have SSD. The swaps, if there is any swaps, will be faster. Between verify, whether the RAM is upgradable or not.

Um..., swaps?!?

This would immediately tell me that I need to get more RAM.

For those wondering, I run the following comfortably in 16GB of RAM with SSD:

Postgres 9.x Ruby 2.x Rails 4.x Python 2.7 / Flask XCode 6.1.1 Chrome Safari Whatever else apps...

I don't think I would trust this in 8GB and feel like I'm productive. Remember, RAM is 10kX-100kX faster than hd, so you can never have enough.

Re: Ask HN: Can you do IOS/XCode development on Mac Mini (1.4 Ghz)

#14

Post by __Joker »

equalarrow wrote: post #13
__Joker wrote: post #10

I work with 128 GB SSD + 8 GB RAM. I think less RAM is fine, if you have SSD. The swaps, if there is any swaps, will be faster. Between verify, whether the RAM is upgradable or not.

Um..., swaps?!? This would immediately tell me that I need to get more RAM. For those wondering, I run the following comfortably in 16GB of RAM with SSD: Postgres 9.x Ruby 2.x Rails 4.x Python 2.7 / Flask XCode 6.1.1 Chrome Safari Whatever else apps... I don't think I would trust this in 8GB and feel like I'm productive. Remember, RAM is 10kX-100kX faster than hd, so you can never have enough.

Obviously each has their requirement. For my workload, I get away with 8 GB RAM. Where I run eclipse( 740 MB ) RAM, sbt with 2 GB RAM, and chrome. And environment is more than snappy enough for me.

At the end of the day, each to his own.

Re: Ask HN: Can you do IOS/XCode development on Mac Mini (1.4 Ghz)

#15

Post by tiboll »

I would suggest an SSD (or Fusion Drive) and at least 8gb of memory (that's pretty much what I have on the Air).

If you take theses 2 options on the 1.4Ghz you're already over the price of the middle range which have a better processor and a better graphic card.

Re: Ask HN: Can you do IOS/XCode development on Mac Mini (1.4 Ghz)

#16

Post by neilxdsouza »

tiboll wrote: post #15

I would suggest an SSD (or Fusion Drive) and at least 8gb of memory (that's pretty much what I have on the Air). If you take theses 2 options on the 1.4Ghz you're already over the price of the middle range which have a better processor and a better graphic card.

I've found a dealer who has a late-2012 mac mini display piece. This particular machine can be upgraded to 16Gb. Im probably going to go with this config.

Re: Ask HN: Can you do IOS/XCode development on Mac Mini (1.4 Ghz)

#17

Post by tiboll »

neilxdsouza wrote: post #16
tiboll wrote: post #15

I would suggest an SSD (or Fusion Drive) and at least 8gb of memory (that's pretty much what I have on the Air). If you take theses 2 options on the 1.4Ghz you're already over the price of the middle range which have a better processor and a better graphic card.

I've found a dealer who has a late-2012 mac mini display piece. This particular machine can be upgraded to 16Gb. Im probably going to go with this config.

The SSD is still a good option with Xcode and Mac OS X. I can't imagine working on a HDD machine ever again.
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