Hi, I'm completely new to Apple's laptops. Ths will be my first. I'm looking to buy a laptop for as low as possible just for developing my first iOS app for iphone 5 as well as ipad 3.
Could someone plz tell me if this is a sufficient machine to do the job? Between iphone 5 and ipad 3, I would rate iphone 5 to be my bigger priority and I do have an iphone 5.
It would do what you are looking to do but it will be at the bottom end of the performance scale.
Also keep in mind the system comes with no warranty so unless it is DOA you stuck with the repairs.
The system comes with 2gb of memory. You're going to want to expand that. Apple supports 4gb on this model, user have reported using 6gb. See Other World Computing for memory.
The OS is Leopard, you will need to upgrade to Mountain Lion in order to run the latest version of Xcode. To get to ML you will first need to upgrade to Snow Leopard to get Mac App Store Access then you can install ML.
So figure in the coast of memory and the two OS upgrades when you look at the price.
regards
Message was edited by: Frank Caggiano - Instead of thinking of doing this for as cheap as possible think about what you have to spend and work from there. If you have $500 say a refubed Mac Mini might be a better option unless portability is a requirement.
Keep in mind if you want to do IOS development you will need to join the IOS developer program, that's $99 US a year in addition to your hardware/software costs.
Does it cost anything to upgrade from leopard to snow leopard then mountain lion?
Yes ML is $20 for each. ML comes from the Mac App Store but before you can access the MAS you need Snow Lepoard. See http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573Z/A/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard for details
But as I wrote you'd be better off figuring how much you can spend and working from that. Check out the Apple refurb store.
Minimum Macbook Requirement to Develop iPhone 5/ipad 3 apps?
