Recommend me a development Mac

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btx926

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Apr 3, 2011
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Hey all, I am a Windows and Linux software engineer that needs to add a Mac to my personal arsenal for development purposes. I'm not targeting a specific project right now, I just need to have a little bit of a workhorse Mac sitting around if anything comes up development wise. I would probably use GarageBand and might even use it as a general purpose machine as well (unlikely it would get gamed upon). Problem is, there is a gaping hole in Apple's Skus for my needs (midrange box that is not an all in one).

MacPro is too much expense, more power than I need.

The new Mac Minis look like they MAY be suitable, but I'm suspicious that a box that size can get the job done - also, I could make a case for any of the three SKUs, although the low end one seems to me to be the best value if you can add ram to it yourself.

iMac -- I'd be willing to spend the money, but I don't want more LCDs on my desk and can't use it as a primary display.

MacBookPro -- I don't really want a laptop. If a docked MacBookPro is the best choice, I'd consider it. Seems like unnecessary expense.
 
The new Mac minis have an i5 processor standard, i7 optional. Not too bad for a machine the size of a book, and also is essentially silent.

You could also replace ALL your machines with a shiny new iMac. It runs Linux and Windows natively. Great machines.
 
Also, adding ram to the new Mac minis is trivial. macsales.com has great prices. I wouldn't have 16GB of ram in my iMac if it wasn't $150 :)

8GB (4GBx2) for the Mac mini is $85. Much better than the $300 Apple charges.
 
santaliqueur said:
You could also replace ALL your machines with a shiny new iMac. It runs Linux and Windows natively. Great machines.
Click to expand...

Seconding the iMac recommendation, you're basically getting a $1000+ display with a fast computer built into it.

My only beef with the 2011 models is that they can now only display external sources from Thunderbolt, whereas with the 2009 and 2010 models they could display from any DisplayPort source. It won't matter when Thunderbolt gets more and more used in PCs over the next few years, and there is always the possibility for an adapter, but for the time being it limits external sources to only 2011 Macs.

Of course, if you don't plan on outputting external sources onto the iMac display like I do (most people don't), then it doesn't really matter. :)
 
Another vote for the mini, make sure you have a 7200rpm hd and enough ram. I'm using the 2009 mac mini for development atm.
 
For LOTS of reasons, Mac only is not an answer for me. I haven't ruled out an iMac, but not being able to use the monitor for output from my PC is killer. I don't really want two LCDs on my desk. I am leaning heavily towards the $800 mini, and considering the $600 + extra ram 3rd party.

Thanks all for the advice.
 
Sounds like a good choice, set aside money for a SSD boot disk and for 8GB of ram, sell off the ram that came with it and you can do that for less than $600
 
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