I plan to study iOS Development. I need to buy a MacBook.

[2/2]

The chip is irrelevant. Even the first-generation Apple Silicon is significantly faster than even the fastest Intel machines ever were.

It's clear, it's clear... It's been decided, I won't even touch the Intel version.

Hah! Finally someone smart! Never buy a used Mac - not ever. If they don't fail for some reason, Macs last for a decade. Any used Mac you buy will be one that has already failed.

This fact really makes me happy. Unfortunately my PC (which was not an Apple product) ended its life in about 2-3 years. So, it's good to some extent if my apple technique really lasts that long, I'll try to take good care of it.

Bad idea. Get as much internal storage as you can afford. Xcode eats storage like candy. The very last thing you want to do is spend all this money for a new Mac and then run it 10 x slower with an ancient, rattling mechanical hard drive. Store your projects on GitHub in private repositories. Your projects themselves actually won't require much storage. You just want to avoid the general problems that always come with an SSD that is too small. A 500 GB SSD will be fine.

If you ever do need external storage, get yourself a 1 or 2 TB Samsung SSD. Throw that HDD in the trash.

Of course, I will try to buy as many GB as I can afford.

As for the HDD part, you are the second person to recommend me to use SSD instead of HDD. Unfortunately, both were too late for this stage as I had already purchased this piece of junk. But I will try to throw this in the trash with time.

Again, bad idea. Computers are just devices. You should treat them as disposable. Buy the minimum that meets your requirements (even if those requirement are relatively high for Xcode). Discard them when they no longer serve.

Thanks again! I can't say anything else. I take into account each of them word for word!

If you ever find yourself with extra money, invest it in high-yield, stable-or-guaranteed securities or real estate. Computers are just office equipment.

You are not human, you are a REAL ANGEL! Thanks for every word, thanks!

[1/2]

First of all, I want to say thank you very much!

etresoft wrote:

If you want to study computer science, that's fine. You can even do that with a Mac if you are really clever and dedicated. But whatever platform your CS program suggests will be fine.

Here's the thing. Everything you read on the internet is a lie. OK, well not everything, but there are so many lies and truths interspersed that you can't tell the difference. It is true that "anybody can code". It just takes 11 years of study and practice to reach minimally competent levels of expertise.

Fortunately, I had already completed a similar undergraduate program focused directly on web technologies. However, I have received only theoretical knowledge in this direction. In practice, unfortunately, I could not fully study this knowledge (due to financial, family, health or other life problems) and use it in my future practice/career. I was also hindered by the high competition in this field. In this country, they "learn" the profession of a web developer in three months with unknown (local) courses, and then newly hatched people compete with bachelors in this field.

However, I will not blame everything on the factors listed above. I also did not show courage in some things, because although I was not afraid of challenges, there were some things in which I experienced failure.

As for the development of iOS applications, this direction attracted me after I heard that the demand for personnel was one way or another, however, due to the shortage of relevant personnel, the announced vacancies remained unfilled. It is assumed that the number of vacancies will increase by 2030. That's why I thought, at least in this regard, I would catch up with the train that had already passed and I would be able to achieve success.

Generally the theoretical knowledge gained during the program helped me analyze things and if nothing else, we humans learn from the mistakes we've already made...so thanks for the advice.

Somehow I already have a similar bachelor's degree in CS/Web. And I know that I love technology, digital things... At this point, I came across the Meta iOS Developer Professional Certificate program, which I think will give me some minimal basics that will help me analyze things. I also think it would be a good addition to my resume. Of course, I will not be completely dependent on it, and I will try to be productive in my studies and stay motivated, no matter how many years it takes me to finally achieve something. Of course, I'm not completely giving up on the web part, and I'll definitely continue to train my mind in this regard as well. I hope something will work out for me.

What's the point of investing a lot of money into a device when, by the time you are able to develop a useful app, said device will be almost a decade out of date?

[...]

What you need are the skills necessary to be successful ten years from now. Whatever device you buy this year will be long dead when that day arrives.

YOU ARE 100% RIGHT! Those are the words and the perspective that I'm so grateful to hear now.

What kind of name is that? "Swift Playgrounds". It sounds like some kind of child's toy, doesn't it? That's because it is. A significant portion of Apple's developer support is dedicated to people cosplaying as developers. Don't play that game.

One of the local tech blogs had some information about it, I thought it might help. However, I'm not a child anymore, I'm 24 years old and I really don't have time for childish games. That's why I take this advice into account.

etresoft wrote:

That's tricky. I don't have a good answer. Lots of people try to get ahead on new technologies. Chris Lattner, the person who developed Swift at Apple, joked, "I'll be the first and only guy with 4 years of swift programming experience". Whenever Apple announces a new product, developers flock to it. No one's going to get rich writing SwiftUI or VisionOS apps. They're all looking for jobs, or perhaps social media followers.

Just don't trust any of those reports about vacancies. It's brutal, even in the best of times.

So what do you think would be the best option for a good high paying career in the future? Does it pass for full/good knowledge of computer science overall? Or should I do something else? For example, which will be a related field...

What I do know now is that I really love interacting with technology and gadgets. Whether it is in the form of social media or digital marketing and many more...

So, one way or the other, do you think the MacBook Air is useful for this job? (If, of course, it will have at least 16 GB of Unified Memory.)

Thanks for the honest advices!

Unfortunately, Apple's refurbished appliances are not sold in my country. I'm in such a small country we don't have an official Apple Store, we only have a few authorized resellers and the only premium reseller here.

As a person, I don't buy second-hand products. I'd rather it be new and compromise quality in some way than it be used.

I will take your advice into account and when I make a purchase I will choose a MacBook Air model with at least 16GB of unified memory. I will also try to focus less on CPU or GPU counts and the M chip series.

As for SSD Storage, I currently have an almost empty 5TB external HDD. Therefore, I will not pay much attention to internal storage. I will try to put all finished projects on HDD after finishing work on the project.

I hope that no matter what minimum choice I make today, I will become such a highly paid professional that in the future it will not be difficult for me to directly choose the MacBook Pro version without thinking and to choose all the maximum specs that are possible for that period.