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CodeSpyder

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jun 23, 2010
1,778
1,812
Orlando, FL
I've been desiring the new M1 MacBook Pro. I currently develop on a late 2019 MacBook Pro. I was going to offer it up for trade-in, but my worry is that I'll cut the cord on the Intel too soon. I'm asking for thoughts and your experiences with using the M1 Mac for app development. Thanks.
 

chabig

macrumors G4
Sep 6, 2002
11,282
8,987
I think that Xcode will build Universal apps even on M1 machines. If true, you'd be fine, right? And if you build a Universal app, you can always force the Intel version to run for testing by checking the "Open using Rosetta" box in Get Info.
 

casperes1996

macrumors 604
Jan 26, 2014
7,485
5,649
Horsens, Denmark
I think that Xcode will build Universal apps even on M1 machines. If true, you'd be fine, right? And if you build a Universal app, you can always force the Intel version to run for testing by checking the "Open using Rosetta" box in Get Info.

You don't even need to do that. In Xcode's scheme editor you can just ask Xcode to "run as Rosetta" right within the Xcode interface when you build and run. Only thing you can't test that way is things like AVX code paths since Rosetta doesn't do AVX, "only" SSE/SSSE
 

casperes1996

macrumors 604
Jan 26, 2014
7,485
5,649
Horsens, Denmark
I've been desiring the new M1 MacBook Pro. I currently develop on a late 2019 MacBook Pro. I was going to offer it up for trade-in, but my worry is that I'll cut the cord on the Intel too soon. I'm asking for thoughts and your experiences with using the M1 Mac for app development. Thanks.

The M1 Max I have is fantastic in basically all regards. Took a bit of effort to get my Haskell compiler set up but that was it. Everything else has been smooth. It's great.
But, it's not as major an upgrade coming from a 2019. I upgraded from a 2014.
This really seems like a matter of *want* not a matter of *need*. The M1 lineup is great but you already have a capable machine. My advice here is to both be rational and listen to your gut.
Rationally look at what you can afford and how much it would sting you financially. Then listen to how much you *want* it, and remember it's a want, not a need. if you can afford it without hurting your economy in painful ways and you quite want it, go for it. If it feels like a very painful sting financially, remember that you don't need it and a 2019 should still be plenty capable
 

CodeSpyder

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jun 23, 2010
1,778
1,812
Orlando, FL
The M1 Max I have is fantastic in basically all regards. Took a bit of effort to get my Haskell compiler set up but that was it. Everything else has been smooth. It's great.
But, it's not as major an upgrade coming from a 2019. I upgraded from a 2014.
This really seems like a matter of *want* not a matter of *need*. The M1 lineup is great but you already have a capable machine. My advice here is to both be rational and listen to your gut.
Rationally look at what you can afford and how much it would sting you financially. Then listen to how much you *want* it, and remember it's a want, not a need. if you can afford it without hurting your economy in painful ways and you quite want it, go for it. If it feels like a very painful sting financially, remember that you don't need it and a 2019 should still be plenty capable
Do you think I could trade-in my late 2019 MacBook Pro, or should I keep it to fall back on if there are major problems? From what you say, it looks like it's okay to trade-in the the Intel Mac.
 

CodeSpyder

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jun 23, 2010
1,778
1,812
Orlando, FL
I wonder how to symbolicate a crash log as atos is a linux command. Is there an equivalent for the M1 Mac?
 

casperes1996

macrumors 604
Jan 26, 2014
7,485
5,649
Horsens, Denmark
Do you think I could trade-in my late 2019 MacBook Pro, or should I keep it to fall back on if there are major problems? From what you say, it looks like it's okay to trade-in the the Intel Mac.
You can trade it in, no problem I'd say. At least for the tasks I've tested so far it's always been possible to do things.
What workloads do you need specifically? Xcode and Apple platform programming but anything else? Obviously it's less ideal if you want to target Windows.

As for any Linux needs you can still run Linux in a VM - That's perfectly supported. And Asahi Linux is under ways for native boot support
 
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