Is This Macbook Pro 16 Overkill For Development? This is the first time I am purchasing a laptop. I'm using it primarily for development. I do fullstack development - I'll be working with docker, various databases, electron, and other various front-end and back-end technologies. I have no interest in gaming; this laptop is strictly for creative. The 16-inch MacBook Pro brings a whole new class of performance to the notebook. Thanks to a more advanced thermal design, the Intel Core i9 processor with up to 8 cores and 16 threads of processing power sustains higher performance for longer periods of time — and delivers up to 2.1 times the performance of a quad-core MacBook Pro. So whether you're layering dozens of tracks and effects.
How fast does your MacBook need to be to comfortably code iOS apps with Xcode? Is a MacBook Pro from 2-3 years ago good enough to learn Swift programming? Let's find out!
Here's what we'll get into:
- The minimum/recommended system requirements for Xcode 11
- Why you need – or don't need – a fancy $3.000 MacBook Pro
- Which second-hand Macs can run Xcode OK, and how you can find out
16 Macbook Pro Review
I've answered a lot of 'Is my MacBook good enough for iOS development and/or Xcode?'-type questions on Quora. A few of the most popular models include:
- The 3rd- and 4th-gen MacBook Pro, with 2.4+ GHz Intel Core i5, i7, i9 CPUs
- The 2nd-gen MacBook Air, with the 1.4+ GHz Intel Core i5 CPUs
- The 4th-generation iMac, with the 2.7+ GHz Intel Core i5 and i7 CPUs
These models aren't the latest, that's for sure. Are they good enough to code iOS apps? And what about learning how to code? We'll find out in this article.
My Almost-Unbreakable 2013 MacBook Air
Since 2009 I've coded more than 50 apps for iOS, Android and the mobile web. Most of those apps, including all apps I've created between 2013 and 2018, were built on a 13″ MacBook Air with 8 GB of RAM and a 1.3 GHz Intel i5 CPU.
My first MacBook was the gorgeous, then-new MacBook White unibody (2009), which I traded in for a faster but heavier MacBook Pro (2011), which I traded in for that nimble workhorse, the mighty MacBook Air (2013). In 2018 I upgraded to a tricked out 13″ MacBook Pro, with much better specs.
Frankly, that MacBook Air from 2013 felt more sturdy and capable than my current MacBook Pro. After 5 years of daily intenstive use, the MacBook Air's battery is only through 50% of its max. cycle count. It's still going strong after 7 hours on battery power.
In 2014, my trusty MacBook Air broke down on a beach in Thailand, 3 hours before a client deadline, with the next Apple Store 500 kilometer away. It turned out OK, of course. Guess what? My current MacBook Pro from 2018, its keyboard doesn't even work OK, I've had sound recording glitches, and occasionally the T2 causes a kernel panic. Like many of us, I wish we had 2013-2015 MacBook Air's and Pro's with today's specs. Oh, well…
Learn how to build iOS apps
Get started with iOS 14 and Swift 5Sign up for my iOS development course, and learn how to build great iOS 14 apps with Swift 5 and Xcode 12.
That 100 Mhz i486 PC I Learned to Code With
When I was about 11 years old I taught myself to code in BASIC, on a 100 Mhz i486 PC that was given to me by friends. It had a luxurious 16 MB of RAM, initially only ran MS-DOS, and later ran Windows 3.1 and '95.
A next upgrade came as a 400 Mhz AMD desktop, given again by friends, on which I ran a local EasyPHP webserver that I used to learn web development with PHP, MySQL and HTML/CSS. I coded a mod for Wolfenstein 3D on that machine, too.
We had no broadband internet at home back then, so I would download and print out coding tutorials at school. At the one library computer that had internet access, and I completed the tutorials at home. The source codes of turn-based web games, JavaScript tidbits and HTML page snippets were carried around on a 3.5″ floppy disk.
Later, when I started coding professionally around age 17, I finally bought my first laptop. My own! I still remember how happy I was. I got my first gig as a freelance coder: creating a PHP script that would aggregate RSS feeds, for which I earned about a hundred bucks. Those were the days!
Xcode, iOS, Swift and The MacBook Pro
The world is different today. Xcode simply doesn't run on an i486 PC, and you can't save your app's source code on a 1.44 MB floppy disk anymore. Your Mac probably doesn't have a CD drive, and you store your Swift code in a cloud-based Git repository somewhere.
Make no mistake: owning a MacBook is a luxury. Not because learning to code was harder 15 years ago, and not because computers were slower back then. It's because kids these days learn Python programming on a $25 Raspberry Pi.
I recently had a conversation with a young aspiring coder, who complained he had no access to 'decent' coding tutorials and mentoring, despite owning a MacBook Pro and having access to the internet. Among other things, I wrote the following:
- The 3rd- and 4th-gen MacBook Pro, with 2.4+ GHz Intel Core i5, i7, i9 CPUs
- The 2nd-gen MacBook Air, with the 1.4+ GHz Intel Core i5 CPUs
- The 4th-generation iMac, with the 2.7+ GHz Intel Core i5 and i7 CPUs
These models aren't the latest, that's for sure. Are they good enough to code iOS apps? And what about learning how to code? We'll find out in this article.
My Almost-Unbreakable 2013 MacBook Air
Since 2009 I've coded more than 50 apps for iOS, Android and the mobile web. Most of those apps, including all apps I've created between 2013 and 2018, were built on a 13″ MacBook Air with 8 GB of RAM and a 1.3 GHz Intel i5 CPU.
My first MacBook was the gorgeous, then-new MacBook White unibody (2009), which I traded in for a faster but heavier MacBook Pro (2011), which I traded in for that nimble workhorse, the mighty MacBook Air (2013). In 2018 I upgraded to a tricked out 13″ MacBook Pro, with much better specs.
Frankly, that MacBook Air from 2013 felt more sturdy and capable than my current MacBook Pro. After 5 years of daily intenstive use, the MacBook Air's battery is only through 50% of its max. cycle count. It's still going strong after 7 hours on battery power.
In 2014, my trusty MacBook Air broke down on a beach in Thailand, 3 hours before a client deadline, with the next Apple Store 500 kilometer away. It turned out OK, of course. Guess what? My current MacBook Pro from 2018, its keyboard doesn't even work OK, I've had sound recording glitches, and occasionally the T2 causes a kernel panic. Like many of us, I wish we had 2013-2015 MacBook Air's and Pro's with today's specs. Oh, well…
Learn how to build iOS apps
Get started with iOS 14 and Swift 5Sign up for my iOS development course, and learn how to build great iOS 14 apps with Swift 5 and Xcode 12.
That 100 Mhz i486 PC I Learned to Code With
When I was about 11 years old I taught myself to code in BASIC, on a 100 Mhz i486 PC that was given to me by friends. It had a luxurious 16 MB of RAM, initially only ran MS-DOS, and later ran Windows 3.1 and '95.
A next upgrade came as a 400 Mhz AMD desktop, given again by friends, on which I ran a local EasyPHP webserver that I used to learn web development with PHP, MySQL and HTML/CSS. I coded a mod for Wolfenstein 3D on that machine, too.
We had no broadband internet at home back then, so I would download and print out coding tutorials at school. At the one library computer that had internet access, and I completed the tutorials at home. The source codes of turn-based web games, JavaScript tidbits and HTML page snippets were carried around on a 3.5″ floppy disk.
Later, when I started coding professionally around age 17, I finally bought my first laptop. My own! I still remember how happy I was. I got my first gig as a freelance coder: creating a PHP script that would aggregate RSS feeds, for which I earned about a hundred bucks. Those were the days!
Xcode, iOS, Swift and The MacBook Pro
The world is different today. Xcode simply doesn't run on an i486 PC, and you can't save your app's source code on a 1.44 MB floppy disk anymore. Your Mac probably doesn't have a CD drive, and you store your Swift code in a cloud-based Git repository somewhere.
Make no mistake: owning a MacBook is a luxury. Not because learning to code was harder 15 years ago, and not because computers were slower back then. It's because kids these days learn Python programming on a $25 Raspberry Pi.
I recently had a conversation with a young aspiring coder, who complained he had no access to 'decent' coding tutorials and mentoring, despite owning a MacBook Pro and having access to the internet. Among other things, I wrote the following:
You're competing with a world of people that are smarter than you, and have better resources. You're also competing against coders that have had it worse than you. They didn't win despite adversity, but because of it. Do you give up? NO! You work harder. It's the only thing you can do: work harder than the next person. When their conviction is wavering, you dig in your heels, you keep going, you persevere, and you'll win.
Winning in this sense isn't like winning a race, of course. You're not competing with anyone else; you're only really up against yourself. What is the best software to edit videos for free. If you want to learn how to code, don't dawdle over choosing a $3.000 or a $2.900 laptop. If anything, it'll keep you from developing the grit you need to learn coding.
Great ideas can change the world, but only if they're accompanied by deliberate action. Likewise, simply complaining about adversity isn't going to create opportunities for growth – unless you take action. I leapfrogged my way from one hand-me-down computer to the next. I'm not saying you should too, but I do want to underscore how it helped me develop character.
If you want to learn how to code, welcome adversity. Be excellent because of it, or despite it, and never give up. Start coding today! Don't wait until you've got all your ducks in a row.
Which MacBook is Fast Enough for Xcode 11?
The recommended system specs to run Xcode 11 are:
- A Mac with macOS Catalina (10.15.2) for Xcode 11.5 or macOS Mojave (10.14.4) for Xcode 11.0 (see alternatives for PC here)
- At least an Intel i5- or i7-equivalent CPU, so about 2.0 GHz should be enough
- At least 8 GB of RAM, but 16 GB lets you run more apps at the same time
- At least 256 GB disk storage, although 512 GB is more comfortable
- You'll need about 8 GB of disk space, but Xcode's intermediate files can take up to 10-30 GB of extra disk space
Tri catalog 7 3 75. Looking for a second-hand Mac? The following models should be fast enough for Xcode, but YMMV!
- 4th-generation MacBook Pro (2016)
- 3rd-generation Mac Mini (2014)
- 2nd-generation MacBook Air (2017)
- 5th-generation iMac (2015)
Macbook Pro 16 Apple
When you're looking for a Mac or MacBook to purchase, make sure it runs the latest version of macOS. Xcode versions you can run are tied to macOS versions your hardware runs, and iOS versions you can build for are tied to Xcode versions. See how that works? This is especially true for SwiftUI, which is iOS 13.0 and up only. Make sure you can run the latest!
Pro tip: You can often find the latest macOS version a device model supports on their Wikipedia page (see above links, scroll down to Supported macOS releases). You can then cross-reference that with Xcode's minimum OS requirements (see here, scroll to min macOS to run), and see which iOS versions you'll be able to run.
Further Reading
Awesome! We've discussed what you need to run Xcode on your Mac. You might not need as much as you think you do. Likewise, it's smart to invest in a future-proof development machine.
Whatever you do, don't ever think you need an expensive computer to learn how to code. Maybe the one thing you really want to invest in is frustration tolerance. You can make do, without the luxury of a MacBook Pro. A hand-me-down i486 is enough. Or… is it?
Want to learn more? Check out these resources:
Learn how to build iOS apps
Get started with iOS 14 and Swift 5Sign up for my iOS development course, and learn how to build great iOS 14 apps with Swift 5 and Xcode 12.
Zbrush 4r7 p3 keygen. Specs of the model reviewed:
2.3GHz 8-core 9th-generation Intel Core i9 processor Turbo Boost up to 4.8GHz
AMD Radeon Pro 5500M with 4GB of GDDR6 memory https://hereifil598.weebly.com/ezee-graphic-designer-2-0-26-mm.html.
16GB 2666MHz DDR4 memory
1TB SSD storage
The saga of the Apple butterfly keyboard has seemed like an endless one. It is still something that consumers will associate with Apple for many more years to come. I had one keyboard replacement for my laptop, and it was a complete pain. Luckily the replacement was done in 24hrs, but the hassle of having to spend a working day without my computer was enough to make me realise the pain that some people must have gone through with longer waits and more failures.
Since then, I have had no further issues. However, as soon as there was an announcement that Apple had replaced the butterfly mechanism with something in between a traditional scissor and the butterfly that would not have the same issues, I was interested. Not only were repeating keys annoying and replacements inconvenient, but I was also not keen on the feel of the butterfly mechanism. There was not enough travel and the keys made far too much noise.
Macbook Pro 16 For Developers
So, while my previous laptop still had good resale value, I took the plunge and picked up the new 16'. I chose the higher-end base model (i9) because I do a lot of data analytics and use virtual machines to test computer code. As a coder, the addition of a physical escape key was the icing on the cake, as I loathed the Touch Bar escape key, especially when working in editors like VIM and when programming. To my pleasant surprise, there is far more to the new MacBook than just a new keyboard.
I was reluctant to upgrade to the last generation of 15.4' MacBooks for a simple reason: throttling. I wanted the capabilities of an 8-core processor to be able to virtualise and to be able to run complex Spark scripts using the cores as cluster nodes. However, when I experimented with a colleague's machine, the performance was severely limited due to thermal issues. Apple claims that the 16' has a new cooling system that has made this much less of a problem, and after using the machine for a couple of weeks and doing extensive multi-core processing, I can attest that this is true. The performance is stunning, and it is easily 2x the speed of the 4-core models that I've been using in the past. It makes a previously painful 10-minute data analysis that made changing scripts laborious, into something that only takes a few minutes and equates to much more productivity. It has also handled video conversions (using compressor) with ease and makes editing 4K a pleasure in Final Cut.
The most profound performance increase is in virtual machines. I do a lot of work with students running on different platforms and therefore get code that cannot be smoothly run on a Mac. Windows runs amazingly well on Parallels, and it has gone from being something I dread running because it is slow and takes ages to do anything, to a non-hassle. I have to do a lot of work with Hadoop systems and prefer to do this in a virtual machine so I can experiment without affecting my production environment. Linux also performs well, and even when under load it never slows down.
The screen is gloriously big, and allows me to have lots going on when I'm working. It is not much larger than the older model 15.4', but it looks far better with the smaller bezels. The brightness and clarity are excellent.
The 1TB of storage also means that I have the space for virtual machines, lots of datasets and video. This move to increase storage and bring down the price is one of the best Apple have ever made, and I am glad they have listened to their users and made the minimum workable for professionals.
Less relevant to me, but still notable, are the speakers. I do not do audio and video professionally except for presentations, so the speakers are not something I use in my typical workflow. Nevertheless, they sound great, and I am happy with the improvements. I still prefer a dedicated speaker for music, but while travelling this will mean I do not need a portable speaker anymore and less luggage is always a bonus.
Are there any downsides? I cannot find much to complain about at all. The weight is substantial but worth the trade-off for the power and screen size. The fans are loud when putting the system to work, and in a silent office, this can be a little disturbing for fellow workers. I use an iPad when working in places such as cafés and I think the 16' is too big for these locations, but the predecessor (15.4') was also the same. I also would not find a laptop this size comfortable when flying. For most people, it will be worth waiting for the 13/14' to be released next year with the new keyboard. If you are not a creative professional or coder, then that will more than suffice.
In conclusion, the 16' MacBook Pro is an excellent improvement over the previous generations. The keyboard is the star with the escape key and much improved key travel. The i9 offers incredible power, enabled through a much improved cooling system, and the extra storage means professionals no longer have to worry about carrying around external hard disks. The speakers rival portable ones and mean less luggage when travelling and will be a massive benefit for people dealing with audio on the move. In sum, this is the Apple laptop that we've been waiting for, and it has far more to it than just a better keyboard.
