How low can I go

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Sherbang

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I want to buy a second hand Apple macbook to learn the Apple way of doing things (I've never used the OS) and try developing on it (in Java) - I want to go as cheap as possible - if I like it and I enjoy working on it I'll invest in a newer model at a later stage, if not then it's no huge loss as I went for a cheap second hand model.
So how low can I go in terms of specs and what can I expect to pay - I want to program without the macbook feeling slow.
Thanks for any advice.
 
this interesting. I also smaak a MacBook but the damn things are so expensive.
 
Sherbang said:
I've heard from other java developers that macs are great to work on
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The machine itself is awesome, but if you're just going to use it for fun I wouldn't buy one. If you wanna learn about Mac OS, why not get a Mini-Mac?
 
As for how low you can go... there are ways to build a Mac in a virtual machine, and yes, it is the real McCoy
 
Sonic2k said:
As for how low you can go... there are ways to build a Mac in a virtual machine, and yes, it is the real McCoy
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Ok, how low can I go with minimal effort!

Basically I'm looking for a second hand macbook pro or air that's old but still capable of running the latest OS and development IDE (eclipse?) without being too slow.
 
I would say start with what you budget is and go from there.
 
Sherbang said:
Ok, how low can I go with minimal effort!

Basically I'm looking for a second hand macbook pro or air that's old but still capable of running the latest OS and development IDE (eclipse?) without being too slow.
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The by-now verrrryyyy long in the tooth cMBP (mid-2012, non-Retina) is selling new for R13k. Secondhand, I've seen anything from R10k down to R6k. It's by no stretch of the imagination fast, unless you drop in a SSD and bump up RAM, but if you get a cheap 2nd-hand option, then this would plausibly offer an low-price entry point.

Major problem with the aforesaid, is longevity. It will run El Capo – and might still run the next version – but it's bound to get dropped very soon, and then who knows where the support will end.

For what you need, would think 8GB ram would be the minimum – so guess then you'd need to start looking at late 2013/early 2014 rMBPs – and try and scoop a deal on a 2nd hand model. They pop up occasionally over on Carbonite – and check out Digicape's classifieds section.
 
I bought a Late 2011 i5 13" for R3500. Only issue was that it had some small scratches and the right arrow is dead on the keyboard. She was asking much more but got quotes of 2k to replace the keyboard (although it's a R300 piece on eBay). Sold the RAM and DVD Writer and replaced it with a 128GB and 2 8GB RAM sticks. Paid just over 5.5k total :)
 
squirrel said:
I bought a Late 2011 i5 13" for R3500. Only issue was that it had some small scratches and the right arrow is dead on the keyboard. She was asking much more but got quotes of 2k to replace the keyboard (although it's a R300 piece on eBay). Sold the RAM and DVD Writer and replaced it with a 128GB and 2 8GB RAM sticks. Paid just over 5.5k total :)
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This will be your cheapest route (even better if you can get a 2012 with USB 3.0), otherwise save up to about R10 - R12k for a second hand 128GB rMBP.
 
Cassady said:
Major problem with the aforesaid, is longevity. It will run El Capo – and might still run the next version – but it's bound to get dropped very soon, and then who knows where the support will end.
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Is there a major architectural change that would lead to them doing so? As I recall the previous times they dropped support for older hardware was switching from PowerPC to Intel and switching to 64 bit only.
 
noxibox said:
Is there a major architectural change that would lead to them doing so? As I recall the previous times they dropped support for older hardware was switching from PowerPC to Intel and switching to 64 bit only.
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None that I know of. You're absolutely correct, and I was as clear as mud on what I was meaning. Rather - I said the opposite of what I meant.

What I should have said was that if this machine is being bought for programming on iOS/OSX, then the risk in buying a 3-year "old" machine, would lie in support for some of the OSX's future features.

Was it Handoff that doesn't work properly on 2011 machines, due to Bluetooth incompatibility? So going forward, if more if these get added, to increase interoperability between iOS and OSX, then it stands to reason that the mid-2012/2013's would lose out first. My entire reasoning is based on there being hardware differences between 2012 and 2014 machines - which really means I should've checked that before suggesting as much, but pretty sure there are... It might not make much of a difference, but I reason it to be something to keep in mind, given the use-case. Were this to have simply been to try out OSX, emails, some web-browsing etc., I think the cMBP remains the cheapest entry point, second hand - given its upgrade options.

[sigh. See OP wants to develop in Java - ignore everything I said! ;) ]
 
Thanks for all the advice, it's a bit more expensive than I'd hoped, I think I might just save up for a newer model, though probably still second hand
 
I am pretty sure that the 2012 (non-retina) macbook pro will still be supported for many many years going forward. If you look at the current support for the new OS X launching they support the macbook as far back as 2007.

Apple has also shown previously (iPhones, MacBooks etc) that they support older generations for quite some time more so with MacBooks.
 
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