Macbook Air for coding? - Contractor UK Bulletin Board

Visitors can check out the Forum FAQ by clicking this link. You have to register before you can post: click the REGISTER link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. View our Forum Privacy Policy.
Want to receive the latest contracting news and advice straight to your inbox? Sign up to the ContractorUK newsletter here. Every sign up will also be entered into a draw to WIN £100 Amazon vouchers!

You are not logged in or you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:

You are not logged in. If you are already registered, fill in the form below to log in, or follow the "Sign Up" link to register a new account.
You may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation.

d000hg replied

3 October 2013, 16:39
Speaking of XCode, I noticed my MacBook has turned an the fan full-whack which normally only happens when building a big project, and it wasn't doing anything.

A quick check in Activity Monitor revealed XCode was using 138% CPU. No wonder it was taxing the system!
Leave a comment:
eek replied

2 October 2013, 20:42
Originally posted by d000hg View Post

I never said you did, but even Eclipse is good in comparison. Actually Eclipse is quite good. But VS is the best.

Clearly you've never used IntelliJ
Leave a comment:
d000hg replied

2 October 2013, 19:14
I never said you did, but even Eclipse is good in comparison. Actually Eclipse is quite good. But VS is the best.
Leave a comment:
NickFitz replied

2 October 2013, 10:06
Originally posted by d000hg View Post

You're a lunatic. I'm updating my project and XCode 4.5 is just a stupid piece of crap in comparison.

I never mentioned Xcode
Leave a comment:
yasockie replied

1 October 2013, 21:47
Using 11" MBA with 8GB of RAM.
My IDE is often a cool 80x40 terminal window so it just about fits
Leave a comment:
d000hg replied

1 October 2013, 21:45
Originally posted by NickFitz View Post

I only use VS for debugging IE as a rule. I find it an utterly horrible development environment, and I say that as a regular Eclipse user!

You're a lunatic. I'm updating my project and XCode 4.5 is just a stupid piece of crap in comparison.
Leave a comment:
eek replied

1 October 2013, 21:25
Originally posted by NickFitz View Post

I only use VS for debugging IE as a rule. I find it an utterly horrible development environment, and I say that as a regular Eclipse user!

Well it's a better development environment than a source control / sprint management / bug tracking systems. Ms's attempts to shoehorn those tools into tfs are beyond tulip
Leave a comment:
NickFitz replied

1 October 2013, 21:04
Originally posted by London75 View Post

Same here, screen res is the killer for Visual Studio though hence Air is now sold and getting a MacBook Pro when they release the new one.

I only use VS for debugging IE as a rule. I find it an utterly horrible development environment, and I say that as a regular Eclipse user!
Leave a comment:
London75 replied

1 October 2013, 14:26
Originally posted by NickFitz View Post

I've even made use of Visual Studio running in a window on a Parallels VM, and it ran faster than on the desktop Windows PC the ClientCo I've just left had me using.

Same here, screen res is the killer for Visual Studio though hence Air is now sold and getting a MacBook Pro when they release the new one.
Leave a comment:
eek replied

30 September 2013, 18:43
Originally posted by mickey View Post

So which one wins: 8GB+ RAM vs light ultrabook case?

The £80 extra light ultrabook with 8gb of ram...
Leave a comment:
mickey replied

30 September 2013, 18:40
So which one wins: 8GB+ RAM vs light ultrabook case?
Leave a comment:
d000hg replied

30 September 2013, 15:41
Originally posted by NickFitz View Post

Done lots of work on my MBA, including with Eclipse. Runs absolutely fine, and it's two versions behind the latest model. I've even made use of Visual Studio running in a window on a Parallels VM, and it ran faster than on the desktop Windows PC the ClientCo I've just left had me using.

I also have W8 running though Parallels on my MacBook, since it's my only laptop and I want to use Visual Studio. It actually works reasonably well but it really doesn't like switching between mac/Win apps - probably running VS2008 inside W8 inside Parallels on a low-spec laptop is a bit OTT but it is usable.
Leave a comment:
NickFitz replied

30 September 2013, 14:18
Originally posted by mickey View Post

So the SSDs are not only sexy but they actually work?
They are so tiny still. Not convinced.

Don't fill it with junk. The latest version of Eclipse is 239.5MB, according to the download I did yesterday. If you don't clutter your drive up with music, videos, photos, and other stuff that you don't actually need access to very often, there's plenty of space. Keep all that crap on an external drive. If you're one of those weirdoes that listens to music as you work, put it on your phone.
Leave a comment:
NickFitz replied

30 September 2013, 14:14
Done lots of work on my MBA, including with Eclipse. Runs absolutely fine, and it's two versions behind the latest model. I've even made use of Visual Studio running in a window on a Parallels VM, and it ran faster than on the desktop Windows PC the ClientCo I've just left had me using.
Leave a comment:
mickey replied

29 September 2013, 21:10
So the SSDs are not only sexy but they actually work?
They are so tiny still. Not convinced.
Leave a comment: