121–130 of 269 posts
Genuinely curious, who is the audience for this? Large iOS dev shops who want hardware to run builds on and don't mind that you need to reserve them for at least 24 hours at a time?
Large shops that already run on AWS and where iOS/mac is a small part so they'd rather dish out a few $100k for someone else to manage and have it homogeneous through their other systems.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you need to interactively test something, can you do that with Github Actions?
You can use this GitHub action [1] to get SSH access to a GitHub runner. If you need access to the GUI you should be able to use ngrok, perhaps with this GitHub action [2]. I've tried tmate both with Linux and macOS runners. I've only tried ngrok with Linux runners. CircleCI supports macOS runners and has native support for rerunning failed builds with SSH access. So just setup a job that always fails. [1] https://gi…
But since they aren’t, and since an M1 mini only costs $699, it doesn’t make sense to me. If you use it 24/7, even the cheapest provider is going to be more expensive than just buying one (or 3)
Even if you only use it for building/compiling iOS software, it’s probably still cheaper to buy one because even if Apple releases a new model, the model you can buy today is still going to be good for building for at least half a decade. Also, if there is a new model, the old model will drop in price!
AND even if you don’t have the cash to buy a $700 computer, you can still probably find a way to finance the purchase for a lower monthly payment than whatever this type of service would cost.
Does anyone have a real world example where a service like this makes sense? (Even if it were cheaper than AWS’s prices)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Unfortunately Mac instances have a minimum billing duration of 24 hours, so even if you only use it 8am-5pm, you'd be billed for 8am-8am. (Not AWS's fault, it's part of the Apple EULA.)
What is apple's motivation?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Unfortunately Mac instances have a minimum billing duration of 24 hours, so even if you only use it 8am-5pm, you'd be billed for 8am-8am. (Not AWS's fault, it's part of the Apple EULA.)
What is apple's motivation?
Days where you're doing the same short-lived task many times won't be as expensive per build, but if you just want to do a nightly build, you're paying for months or years and utilizing a fraction of the compute time you're buying.
If M1 macs were like iPhones, where a new one was released every year, I could see it maybe being useful to pay for something like this. But since they aren’t, and since an M1 mini only costs $699, it doesn’t make sense to me. If you use it 24/7, even the cheapest provider is going to be more expensive than just buying one (or 3) Even if you only use it for building/compiling iOS software, it’s probably still cheaper…
This is great, but since x86 Macs were already available this is mostly just a price reduction. But it's great to have these available at Amazon.
M1/AArch64 is the future of Mac hardware, this is AWS following the path. Devs targeting the macOS desktop should be focused on M1 native exclusively unless long term support of X86_64 Macs is part of their product's support options.
Even the earliest M1 Air has been out for less time than most people's laptop replacement time, and MBP users are very unlikely to have an M1 MBP yet.
Assuming that's correct, exclusively targeting M1 implies ignoring most potential customers for a few years to come.
If M1 macs were like iPhones, where a new one was released every year, I could see it maybe being useful to pay for something like this. But since they aren’t, and since an M1 mini only costs $699, it doesn’t make sense to me. If you use it 24/7, even the cheapest provider is going to be more expensive than just buying one (or 3) Even if you only use it for building/compiling iOS software, it’s probably still cheaper…
If M1 macs were like iPhones, where a new one was released every year, I could see it maybe being useful to pay for something like this. But since they aren’t, and since an M1 mini only costs $699, it doesn’t make sense to me. If you use it 24/7, even the cheapest provider is going to be more expensive than just buying one (or 3) Even if you only use it for building/compiling iOS software, it’s probably still cheaper…
Any company that does something on iOS/macos needs mac hardware to run builds on, there is no other (legal) option. The status quo (even at very large companies) is some mac mini's under someones desk/in a closet somewhere.
This is basically replacing the cost of that setup (ie the oncall for it/hassle). The AWS service is even more expensive than things like MacStadium because you also get AWS network connectivity and other features.