Hi All, I have a little money and need to purchase a Mac of some description - so I can start in on iOS Apps to complement Android. Completely new to anything outside of a Windows based PC so help appreciated with what to avoid and what to look for would be appreciated :) Nothing too recent / new as this will be outside of my budget!

See my thread https://www.buzztouch.com/forum/thread.php?tid=7418A946DF6F559A1FDDB92&command=isSearching&currentPage=1&topicTitle=&createdBy=Higgey&repliedBy=&minViews=-1&maxViews=-1&minReplies=-1&maxReplies=-1&forumCategory= I found it quite a difficult choice. Also, I started out using a cloud based Mac and then bought a Mac once I had progressed. There is Mac in the Cloud or vmosx. Google 'em. I used both and they were basically the same. The latter was cheaper but the customer support poorer. It took more patience to work in the cloud and it was sometimes frustrating but it was much less financial risk. Hope that helps. John.

A Mac Mini is the quickest way to have a Mac desktop. OSX Mavericks, not iOS 7. It is a 8"x8" box, add your own keyboard, mouse, monitor. $699. You can buy them at Apple Stores, Best Buys (sometimes at a bit of a discount)... or Apple on-line to meet your specs, and have it delivered to your house or to your favorite Apple Store, where they can help you get it out of the box. iMac or MacBookPro are also OSX, and are at the $1300 level. I have a $1300 Mac Mini (extra RAM, faster processor, fusion drive that is part solid state, Apple Care). I use my 22-inch LED monitor. When I had my 32-inch LCD monitor, I sometimes used that with Chromecast. I use a Logitech wireless solar keyboard and (shared receiver) wireless mouse. An OSX machine comes with iLife (Garageband and iMovie, etc), and iWork (MSOffice equivalents). I use OpenOffice for other Office equivalents.

Thanks for the comments - I was looking entry level to see if it suited me, iMac running Mavericks 10.9.3 @around £300 ($450) or so complete - 6GB RAM, large HD 2008 model. If that sort of thing would get me going with xcode for a while then is it worth it?

http://www.apple.com/uk/mac-mini/ Because I am in the US, Apple redirects me to .com rather than Apple.co.uk. On http://Apple.co.uk, on the very top click on Mac, then on the next screen, Mac mini. £499.

Lovely piece of hardware that - thanks for the heads up. Looking at this, I think ill save a little more and invest in one of these brand new. Thanks Nick - appreciated.

Like you, I'm more of a Windows guy. I found some specs here - http://support.apple.com/kb/sp485 A 2008 iMac uses older intel processor technology, I don't know enough about them to predict how long it will last you, but my understanding is if it runs Mavericks, it should run Xcode 5.x. Personally, I'd probably lean towards a newer mac mini if I had choices.

Cheers AlanMac - yeah, decided to save a little hard earned and get a new mini I think!!

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5842 Cheers! -- Smug

There's nothing like buying a new mac, but maybe you should look at the refurbished section of the Apple website. 2011 models are pretty good. I wouldn't recommend a 2008 computer, because the newest software won't be compatible with it in two or three years time. Xcode and iOS development requires the latest software. I would recommend any mac 2011 or newer. You might want to look at the second hand market. I wouldn't say you should go for an older MacBook Air, but a new MacBook Air will be fine. I personally have a 27" iMac with an SSD. I love it! But it definitely was a blow to my wallet.But I see my Mac as an investment for the next six years. And that comes to my next point... old PCs are really bad. They start falling apart, but because Apple makes much better quality computers, Macs have double the lifespan. If you consider this, it becomes justifiable why these machines are expensive. So my basic point is buy a Mac newer than 2011! And a real bonus would be to get SSD too!

I recently updated all 4 of my Macs: MacBook Pro, iPhone, iPad, Mac Mini... Three within a 1 week!! Here's why: 1) In order to have iCloud work properly, all 4 devices needed to be current - hardware and software, Two of them were too old - 2 were 2 years old, and one 3 years old. Too old. 2) Apple Care only covers 3 years. Then you can't buy it anymore. I had one device coming to the end of its Apple Care life. Then with the others that had one more year left, the devices were too old to sync and share. 3) I sold my devices on CraigsList (GumTree for Paddy), for 25% of what I paid for them, 2 and 3 years ago!! i could have gotten a little bit more. Apple devices not only last longer, but have amazing resale value.

"old PCs are really bad. They start falling apart, but because Apple makes much better quality computers, Macs have double the lifespan" Thomas, I respect your right to have an opinion, I just wanted mention this statement is an opinion, not fact. My concern is you might believe what you posted. Think of it this way. There are many many manufacturers of PC's and with all that choice and variety, there are good and bad. Some are built for quality, some are built for price. A Mac is just a PC made by Apple running their own operating system. Open them up and many of the components are common with other manufacturers. I have repaired a lot of PC's over the last 20 years and I think you must have had a very bad experience with one somewhere in your past.

I have always had the 25% resale value with my previously driven Macs. I've never had a Mac in for repair since around 1989. I gave away my last Windows PC in 2008, and haven't looked back in regret. I do more, and I have more to do, with Mac devices, than Windows, and of course more Android devices than Windows PCs. I'm still concerned, now 3 weeks later, that Self Hosted v3.0 Menu Simple rows in Android are clear, rather than solid, and Location Map pulsating location dot is black not blue in iOS. Is everyone still on 2.0? Not Self Hosted??

I bought an October 2010 MacBook on eBay for around $435... And have since bought a newer one (2011) for around $450. One thing to keep in mind when buying these machines - when they advertise "loaded with software!!!" and they jack up the price - is that the software is often coded to a specific iTunes account, and can't be upgraded except on the iTunes account that it was purchased under. I do agree with the comments above about buying the newest Mac you can afford, because Apple seems to be keying newer OS releases to be compatible with newer hardware versions. I had a 2008 MacBook that I'd bought specifically for app design (I'm a PC girl), and once Mavericks came out, I was out of business because I couldn't upgrade. Blue skies, Wanda