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Pretty much as the title says. I'll likely use Monotouch for some/all projects if that makes a difference (noting this still needs a Mac).

I've read this Question...

Macbook Air for iPhone Development?

...and see the related answers note performance issues and buggy/non performant screen spanning issues on previous generation models.

I'd like to know if these two issues are resolved with the new specs.

Observations on performance running Win7 and WP7 under bootcamp are welcome but not required. Related question raised here looking for specifics on WDDM1.1 compliance on this model if you care to comment there.

edit: formating/highlighting.

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Mick N
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3 Answers3

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As both my answer and Marco Arment's in the other question indicate, the previous generation MacBook Air was more than capable of running all the developer tools. In fact, Marco's review was based on the original MacBook Air, which was even less capable than the second-generation one that I had.

Performance is a relative metric, and it only improves with these later models. The second-generation MacBook Air that I had was never the bottleneck in my development process.

Pretty much all of the bugs were worked out by the second-generation model that I had. I noticed no issues with driving external monitors from the system at all. Again, Marco was basing his review on the very first build of the Air, which had some known issues.

Screen size will be an issue on the go when developing with many windows open, or trying to simulate the iPad, but that would be the same with a 13" laptop of another type. I imagine you'll be connecting this into an external display for extended development at your desk anyway.

The only reason I no longer am using it as my primary machine is that I found I didn't need the portability after getting an iPad.

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Brad Larson
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  • Hi Brad, thanks for your comments. I take it Marco's observation ("It's slow. Even simple tasks, like Xcode's autocomplete, are sluggish and really hit the CPU hard.") is no longer an issue on the Gen2 or later? – Mick N Dec 14 '10 at 23:07
  • Your screen size observation wrt ipad is something I hadn't thought of. Am I write in assuming you can run the simulator full screen and fit the ipad in landscape fully, but the issue comes into play for portrait? I'm imagining a scroll bar (or better, shortcut keys to pageup/down) for the 1024 ipad portrait height being simulated on the 768 air height. – Mick N Dec 14 '10 at 23:09
  • @Mick - Yes, Marco's performance observations were for the entry-level first-generation model, which was much slower than the second-generation model I had, and even slower than the current iteration. Code completion, etc. never slowed down on my machine. As far as the iPad goes, I can't even fit the full thing at 100% magnification in portrait on my new 15" MBP with the high-res screen. It has scroll bars otherwise, which is fine for testing. An external monitor really comes in handy for full magnification iPad or iPhone 4 testing. – Brad Larson Dec 15 '10 at 04:15
  • That's great, thanks again for the feedback Brad and Kevin. I've got a pretty good handle on this now. – Mick N Dec 15 '10 at 05:02
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The new models will be more than capable of running all tools required to develop iPhone apps on. The most notable performance improvement will be the integrated SSD memory. This makes up for the slightly slower processor speed when compared with the 13" MacBook Pro.

Kevin Sylvestre
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  • Hi Kevin, thanks for your comments. Is this from experience with the Octoboer 2010 devices or other devices and expectations? – Mick N Dec 14 '10 at 06:29
  • I have used the device, and also read extensive reviews on it. Also, I've been developing iPhone and iPad applications for the past few years. The only thought is I have not tried the 11-inch model (just the 13-inch), so it might be a bit slower. – Kevin Sylvestre Dec 14 '10 at 14:23
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I just got the latest revision macbook air. I think it may actually be faster than the 2.4ghz macbook pro it replaced. My only suggestion is to upgrade to 4gb of memory.

jbehren
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  • That sounds positive. Is there any way to quantify this from "think it's faster" to "it is faster"? – Mick N Jan 06 '11 at 21:57
  • Unfortunately, I sold off the macbook pro to a friend. Guaranteed: App startup time is down from ~15-20 to <10 seconds for Mono on OSX, and from about 45 seconds to <30 for VS2010 on Win7. Most of that is due to the SSD. Win7 was never spectacular on the MBP, overall. Now, compiling a MonoTouch application for a game I built is roughly the same or slower on the MBA - around a minute for a full build, and I recall it taking 30-45s on the MBP. Compiling in VS2010 a small console application is quite fast: <15s on MBA, and it takes 30-45 on my 2.0ghz Core2Duo 2gb Win7 desktop with Raid0 sata. – jbehren Jan 07 '11 at 16:25