Need help choosing Macbook

I am going to be purchasing my first Macbook in a week or so. I am currently teaching myself the Objective-C programming language and plan to create some apps with my soon-to-acquire Macbook. My question is this: Is retina display a necessity for creating a truly beautiful app with real potential for success? I believe the ideas I have come up with for various apps definitely have potential for big success. I know that the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 have retina display, so, I need to know if it is imperative that I buy a macbook with retina display in order to make these apps. On top of that, the price difference between the regular Macbook Pro and the Macbook Pro with Retina display is steep. If someone who actually knows what they are talking about could give me a thoughtful and informative answer, I would be more than grateful. Cheers.

You can develop on any Mac. Developing for retina iDevices was done for months before retina displays appeared on Mac.

What's more imperative is that you understand, from a development point of view, about how your app will look on a variety of devices. While you can view the simulator running the app you can never tell completely without putting on one of the target devices for testing.

So I'd say it's far more important to have a retina device you can test on than a retina Mac to develop on. Only then can you match 1-to-1 resolution and dpi

mrplow said:

You can develop on any Mac. Developing for retina iDevices was done for months before retina displays appeared on Mac.

What's more imperative is that you understand, from a development point of view, about how your app will look on a variety of devices. While you can view the simulator running the app you can never tell completely without putting on one of the target devices for testing.

So I'd say it's far more important to have a retina device you can test on than a retina Mac to develop on. Only then can you match 1-to-1 resolution and dpi

Click to expand...

Ah thank you I see. I do have an iPhone 4S, but if I wanted to test my app on it wouldn't that require me to jailbreak in order to use the app on the device? Besides of course putting it on the App Store which wouldn't make much sense to put it on there if you are not completely sure the app looks exactly how you want it to. Anyway, thank you for the response, much appreciated!

The Xcode environment lets you provision devices to allow you test you apps

mrplow said:

The Xcode environment lets you provision devices to allow you test you apps

Click to expand...

I did not know that thank you. That is actually very handy. I appreciate you clearing these things up for me.

Just to clarify what mrplow has said, you dont have to develope on a retina Mac, but you do want to test your apps on the devices you app is specified to run on, and the iOS version you app is also specified to run on.

In the early stages of your app development, you can use the iPhone simulator that comes with Xcode, but you definatley want to test on an actual device before submitting to the app store.
To be able to test on an actual iDevice you have to be a registered Apple developer, and a paid $99 a year member of the iOS developer program, in order to set up provisioning profiles for actual devices.

Hope this helps.

Regards Mark

Mark FX said:

Just to clarify what mrplow has said, you dont have to develope on a retina Mac, but you do want to test your apps on the devices you app is specified to run on, and the iOS version you app is also specified to run on.

In the early stages of your app development, you can use the iPhone simulator that comes with Xcode, but you definatley want to test on an actual device before submitting to the app store.
To be able to test on an actual iDevice you have to be a registered Apple developer, and a paid $99 a year member of the iOS developer program, in order to set up provisioning profiles for actual devices.

Hope this helps.

Regards Mark

Click to expand...

Ahh I see. So for example let's say I'm targeting iPhone 4/4S/5 I would have to use my 4S to test for the 4/4S and would I have to borrow someones iPhone 5 to test for that? Also, for testing different iOS versions, does the device also have to have that version installed? For example I haven't updated my 4S to iOS 6.0.1 because I don't have enough space for it with all my music, so I would be testing the app on my device for the iOS version I have and I would have to borrow someones device that has iOS 6.0.1? And I do intend to buy the $99 Apple Developer fee so that should not be a problem. Also, thank you for further information, you helped clear some things up!

EDIT: Also, I know this is most likely a stupid question, but do I need to buy a new macbook off of Apple or can I buy one used from someone and still be able to code perfectly fine. I ask this because someone told me that programming language changes frequently and outdated macbooks may not be able to code the same way as the brand new ones. If someone could clarify, that'd be great!

Yes that's exactly right, you should test your apps on all devices and operating systems that you want to target, it's not a rule, but is advisable, I'm sure that that there are people who only test on the simulators, but this is not a good idea, and Apple advises developers to test on the actual device as well, as thats what they do when reviewing apps submitted to the app store.

Dont rush to buy the iOS developer program, as this cost $99 per year, do all of your early development and testing with the simulator, and only pay for the iOS developer program when you are nearing the completion of your app, and need to do final testing on a device, to make sure its working correctly.

Also do read up on the Apple app review guidlines, as this will tell you all the things that your app needs to comply with, if your app does not comply with these guidlines, then it will be rejected, and will not be allowed in the App store, I have put a link to these guidlines, but unfortunatly you have to be a registered Apple developer to read them.

https://developer.apple.com/appstore/guidelines.html

But if you read Apple's guides in the developer documentationon, there is a lot of tips about what is required from your app to be considered worthy.

https://developer.apple.com/devcenter/ios/index.action

I will give you a very brief list of tips for your app development, it must firstly be more than just a web page browser, it must not try to duplicate any of Apple's own apps, it must not be greedy with the device's memory, or system resources, that also includes not having memory leaks, it must be able to handle low memory warnings from the device, and also handle interuptions from phone calls and messages, but most important, it must not be crap, Apple are getting more and more fussy about the quality of the apps that they want to allow in the app store, this is because they have to review millions of apps every year, and they want to try and keep the quality as high as possible.

Lastly when buying your Mac to develop on, yes it can be a used machine if your on a tight budget, but make sure its not to old, you want to be able to use the latest version of Xcode if you want to develop for iOS6, that means a Mac that is running Lion, or Mountain Lion, also Xcode needs plenty of Ram to work with, so at least 2 gig at minimum, and the bigger the screen the better, as using Xcode can be screen intensive.

Hope this helps some more.

Regards Mark

Thank you that was VERY helpful. I just purchased a used macbook pro from Ebay. Here is a link to it - Mint Apple MacBook Pro 13 3" 2 9GHz Intel Core i7 8GB RAM 500GB HD 885909583355 | eBay if you could check the specs and tell me if it seems alright. It is a mid-2012 macbook so I would think that everything is as up-to-date as the brand new macbook's from Apple. It is a 13" screen with the 2.9Ghz and Intel i7 so I saved around $300 from what it would cost me to buy one new. Hopefully the 13" won't cause me too much trouble as compared to using a 15" screen. Once again, thanks for your reply!

That's a good spec machine, that will do want you want, you might find the screen a bit cramped for Xcode, but that could be just me getting old and with flakey eyesight.

Good luck with it.

Regards Mark