My macbook pro (from early 2011) just broke. I thought it was a RAM issue but it's not. I have a feeling it might not be worth repairing. In short I want a new laptop.
I would really love to get the cheapest macbook this time round (with the plan of going all out few years down the line). But, I have no clue when it comes to what different spec might mean.
Is macbook air a good laptop for programming? At the moment I'm all about node development, but regardless of what programming language I explore (say mobile development) is it a good laptop?
The cheap version is £949 (fantastic price)
1.8GHz Processor
128GB Storage
1.8GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor
Turbo Boost up to 2.9GHz
8GB 1600MHz LPDDR3 memory
128GB SSD storage1
Intel HD Graphics 6000
The other version is £1099
1.8GHz Processor
256GB Storage
1.8GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor
Turbo Boost up to 2.9GHz
8GB 1600MHz LPDDR3 memory
256GB SSD storage1
Intel HD Graphics 6000
I have a strong feeling the storage of 128GB is too small.
I still want to get an apple product but would love to go as cheap as possible, but still not regret it
Any suggestion is greatly appreciated
Latest comments (61)
These options are nice but it is 2023 There are many other options that you can explore here
I've been working on my MacBook Air 13,3" since like 2 years and it is really awesome. It's the mid 2012 model with 8gb of RAM and 128gb SSD (so i have an external drive too). I've been developing in RoR on it and it have never disappointed me, actually i compare this machine to the other brands that some of my teamates have like dell or hp and it is very well compared to them even with almost 6 years old.
As far I know I wouldn't recommend you to buy an Air version if you're a programmer, I mean I think that Air version is like a LITE version of a macbook, I bought the last macbook pro lately(yes, the one with the touch bar), and until now I felt very comfortable with it, the SO(High Sierra) is very stable and the hardware have pretty much nothing wrong(except for a little detail with the battery, since when you're programming for iOS for example, and therefore you have to keep the XCode opened, seems like the macbook lose energy quicker than usual).
IMHO if you have the money, and you wanna make a great inversion, I'd recommend you to buy a macbook pro with touch bar, however, if you are running low on cash, macbook either 2015 or 2016 version would do the trick for you.
Hope I could help you.
Regards.
How about 2014 (Apple MacBook Pro 11,2/i7 4770HQ/16GB Ram/256GB SSD/15"). I found it for £860
Sounds like a good offer, what about the notebook state ? How many charge cycles got ?
Is graded as B (if that's what you mean)
Check out system76 galago pro. If you're comfortable with linux - this thing is a beast.
I'm using a version that costs around 1,1k and it has:
4ghz proc
32gb ram
250gb ssd
You also have an option for a lot bigger primary storage and to add a second hdd/sdd.
On the downside the body is a lot more flimsier than a macbooks (plastic with aluminum finish), the trackpad is meh and the bezels are quite big. That said, I'd still take this baby over a macbook anytime.
Get a Macbook pro with as much RAM as you can. You won't regret it.
I have a MacBook air from 2013 (13inch 8gb RAM Core i5), and it is still going strong. Little slow here and there (I have a desktop at work) but it definitely gets the job done.
Anything with at least 8gb ram (for them chrome tabs and IDE) with decent storage space will be more then adequate for your needs!
It depends a lot!
Are you a web developer? In this case you don't need to worry a lot about how powerful is your CPU but you will need a big screen. Unless you plan to work most of the time with an external monitor. I've seen a lot of Ruby on Rails developers programming with the Macbook 12" or the MBA 11". They have the editor on the laptop screen, and the browser on the external monitor.
If you are going to work with a compiled language and use an IDE, you should probably go for the better CPU you can afford. Probably, a MBP.
As for RAM memory, I would not but less than 16GB. You know... Slack...
Dude, you need way more than 128GB of storage for ANY kind of development.
Think about OS, General files, various projects and git repositories, NPM/Yarn caches (big), Docker or VirtualBox images, the Mac OS sleep image, possibly mobile backups, etc.
You will feel the constraints of a 128 GB hard drive very, very fast. At the minimum I would suggest getting something with 512 GB.
Onto processor, I would recommend getting the fastest i7 you can get. Consider all the processing power you’ll need for Chrome, webpack, WebStorm (or whatevs) to index all your project files, and you’re looking at pushing that thing to its limits already.
I just upgraded from a Late 2012 MacBook Pro Retina with an i5, 8GB of RAM, and a 128 GB hard drive. It was a great machine for many years, but in the last two or three years it started to really show its shortcomings and development started getting harder and harder. I had to spend a lot of energy backing things up, using DaisyDisk to clear caches and delete temporary things. Constant notifications that I was running out of space, and general sluggishness became the norm.
For the money you’re considering spending, I would seriously recommend doing some shopping for a decent Late 2015 model on eBay. There are some very solid refurbished Intel i7/16GB RAM/512GB Storage machines out there. I bought one last fall for $1,100 USD. It was the last generation of the MacBook Pro Retina with the real keyboard, MagSafe adapter, and Force Touch trackpad. I decided not to move to the newest body style after deciding that ports, MagSafe, and the larger (deeper) keys were probably superior to that tiny thing they are shipping now.
Don’t skimp on your machine if you can help it, because you don’t want to be replacing it in a year!
I code on a MacBook Air I bought in winter of 2012 and it still works brilliantly. Except the 128gb hard drive is way too small. Definitely get the laptop with the larger ssd hard drive. I have to store all of my photos, music, and videos on separate hard drives.
I was thinking of going with 256gb but MacBook Air though. And my MacBook Pro had 8gb ram and it was just fine. I'm just wondering whether I'll regret going with Air rather than pro