Re: [Flashcoders] Recommendation for budget development mac

2008-10-22 Thread eric e. dolecki
I am hearing the Mac Mini might be discontinued (as of right now). Not sure
if that change your mind about one.

On Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 10:52 AM, Weyert de Boer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> Yes, you can also consider to buy a Mac and use VMWare Fusion to test under
> Windows etc.
>
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Re: [Flashcoders] Recommendation for budget development mac

2008-10-22 Thread Weyert de Boer
Yes, you can also consider to buy a Mac and use VMWare Fusion to test 
under Windows etc.

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Re: [Flashcoders] Recommendation for budget development mac

2008-10-22 Thread David Benman
The other thing to keep in mind is to test early and test often when  
doing cross-platform testing. Keeps you from find bugs at the last  
minute.


Also, when working with a team, its helpful to consider having one of  
your team members work on the mac. Then ongoing testing occurs.


On Oct 17, 2008, at 11:54 AM, eric e. dolecki wrote:


I think that you made a good decision there, for what it's worth.

Eric

On Fri, Oct 17, 2008 at 10:45 AM, Paul Steven  
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote:


Thanks for all the advice - I have made a quick decision and  
ordered a Mac
Mini 2 GHZ (Intel one) with an extra gig of RAM. Sounds like this  
will be
sufficient to package my games for the Mac and also provide a  
means for
testing. I do have a 450 mhz G3 in the attic but I thought that  
would be

way
too old to be of any use for my needs.

Cheers

Paul

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of  
Ian Thomas

Sent: 17 October 2008 15:17
To: Flash Coders List
Subject: Re: [Flashcoders] Recommendation for budget development mac

On Fri, Oct 17, 2008 at 2:09 PM, David Benman  
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

wrote:
I agree with Ian, though I'd caution going to low-end for testing  
because
then you can get too focused on slowness issues that don't affect  
your

average, target machine.


Sorry - I meant slowest of the current crop, by which I meant Mac  
Mini. :-)


Ian
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Re: [Flashcoders] Recommendation for budget development mac

2008-10-17 Thread eric e. dolecki
I think that you made a good decision there, for what it's worth.

Eric

On Fri, Oct 17, 2008 at 10:45 AM, Paul Steven <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote:

> Thanks for all the advice - I have made a quick decision and ordered a Mac
> Mini 2 GHZ (Intel one) with an extra gig of RAM. Sounds like this will be
> sufficient to package my games for the Mac and also provide a means for
> testing. I do have a 450 mhz G3 in the attic but I thought that would be
> way
> too old to be of any use for my needs.
>
> Cheers
>
> Paul
>
> -Original Message-
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Ian Thomas
> Sent: 17 October 2008 15:17
> To: Flash Coders List
> Subject: Re: [Flashcoders] Recommendation for budget development mac
>
> On Fri, Oct 17, 2008 at 2:09 PM, David Benman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> wrote:
> > I agree with Ian, though I'd caution going to low-end for testing because
> > then you can get too focused on slowness issues that don't affect your
> > average, target machine.
>
> Sorry - I meant slowest of the current crop, by which I meant Mac Mini. :-)
>
> Ian
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RE: [Flashcoders] Recommendation for budget development mac

2008-10-17 Thread Paul Steven
Thanks for all the advice - I have made a quick decision and ordered a Mac
Mini 2 GHZ (Intel one) with an extra gig of RAM. Sounds like this will be
sufficient to package my games for the Mac and also provide a means for
testing. I do have a 450 mhz G3 in the attic but I thought that would be way
too old to be of any use for my needs.

Cheers

Paul

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Ian Thomas
Sent: 17 October 2008 15:17
To: Flash Coders List
Subject: Re: [Flashcoders] Recommendation for budget development mac

On Fri, Oct 17, 2008 at 2:09 PM, David Benman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
> I agree with Ian, though I'd caution going to low-end for testing because
> then you can get too focused on slowness issues that don't affect your
> average, target machine.

Sorry - I meant slowest of the current crop, by which I meant Mac Mini. :-)

Ian
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Re: [Flashcoders] Recommendation for budget development mac

2008-10-17 Thread Ian Thomas
On Fri, Oct 17, 2008 at 2:09 PM, David Benman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I agree with Ian, though I'd caution going to low-end for testing because
> then you can get too focused on slowness issues that don't affect your
> average, target machine.

Sorry - I meant slowest of the current crop, by which I meant Mac Mini. :-)

Ian
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Re: [Flashcoders] Recommendation for budget development mac

2008-10-17 Thread Matt S.
On Fri, Oct 17, 2008 at 9:09 AM, David Benman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> If you want to be thorough and have extra money, then you can consider
> getting older slower macs such as a PPC. We tend to have them laying around,
> but you might check with friends to test or to sell you a cheap old machine.

At this point you can find alot of old G4's on Craigslist, eg:
http://newyork.craigslist.org/que/sys/882550805.html ($225). These are
still relatively fast, but also old enough so that you'll get a pretty
good sense for what older machine performance will be like. A G4 like
this is a couple gens back by now.
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Re: [Flashcoders] Recommendation for budget development mac

2008-10-17 Thread David Benman
I agree with Ian, though I'd caution going to low-end for testing  
because then you can get too focused on slowness issues that don't  
affect your average, target machine.


If you are looking at one machine, I'd recommend an average speed  
Intel Mac which would could be used and save you money. This will  
give you indications of potential slowness issues and its the  
predominant processor now. Plus there are can be infrequent issues  
with the "new" processor, especially if there's old PPC code in the  
application running on the Intel.


If you want to be thorough and have extra money, then you can  
consider getting older slower macs such as a PPC. We tend to have  
them laying around, but you might check with friends to test or to  
sell you a cheap old machine.



On Oct 17, 2008, at 8:24 AM, Ian Thomas wrote:


I suspect it depends how many pixels you're throwing around!

We create fairly straightforward educational 'games' for young kids,
and the Mac Mini (which is Intel these days, by the way) has been
perfectly adequate as a testbed for our software. What's more, if
you're actually authoring on the PC and testing on the Mac (which is
how we do it) you'll probably want to be testing on the slowest of the
Macs anyway, to ensure that your end-users don't have something that's
too slow.

The Mac Mini is a nice piece of compact kit. It has another big
advantage over many other macs if you're using it as a second machine
(e.g. for testing); you can plug in external keyboard, mouse and
monitor. Which means I've got my Mac Mini hooked up to the same
screen, mouse and keyboard as my PC (via a switcher). That way I can
do a build on the PC, switch to Mac for testing, switch to PC to fix
that annoying bug, repeat until fixed...

I heartily recommend it.

Ian


On Fri, Oct 17, 2008 at 1:01 PM, Paul Steven  
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Up until now I have never needed to develop anything for the Mac,  
however I
have been asked to develop a series of games for Mac and PC so  
need to get a
Mac to enable me to do so. The games will be delivered as  
downloadable

executables.

I would therefore appreciate any advice on what to get. I  
currently develop
using Flash CS3. I would prefer to spend as little as possible and  
was
therefore considering the Mac Mini but believe this may be a bit  
long in the
tooth. I would prefer if it was intel too so I can have a dabble  
with the
iPhone development software. I need to get this Mac within the  
next couple
of weeks too so I can't wait too long. My budget is £1000 maximum  
but less
would be better as I don't know if I will get any more jobs that  
require

development on a Mac or not.

Any advice much appreciated..

Paul


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RE: [Flashcoders] Recommendation for budget development mac

2008-10-17 Thread Paul Steven
Thanks Ian - that is great advice and I now feel a lot more confident buying
a Mac Mini. The games I am developing are for kindergarden age kids so there
is nothing fast paced to deal with. I will continue developing on the PC. I
also believe they are simple to hook up to a living room TV with a wireless
keyboard to surf the net in the living room. 

Cheers

Paul

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Ian Thomas
Sent: 17 October 2008 13:25
To: Flash Coders List
Subject: Re: [Flashcoders] Recommendation for budget development mac

I suspect it depends how many pixels you're throwing around!

We create fairly straightforward educational 'games' for young kids,
and the Mac Mini (which is Intel these days, by the way) has been
perfectly adequate as a testbed for our software. What's more, if
you're actually authoring on the PC and testing on the Mac (which is
how we do it) you'll probably want to be testing on the slowest of the
Macs anyway, to ensure that your end-users don't have something that's
too slow.

The Mac Mini is a nice piece of compact kit. It has another big
advantage over many other macs if you're using it as a second machine
(e.g. for testing); you can plug in external keyboard, mouse and
monitor. Which means I've got my Mac Mini hooked up to the same
screen, mouse and keyboard as my PC (via a switcher). That way I can
do a build on the PC, switch to Mac for testing, switch to PC to fix
that annoying bug, repeat until fixed...

I heartily recommend it.

Ian


On Fri, Oct 17, 2008 at 1:01 PM, Paul Steven <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
> Up until now I have never needed to develop anything for the Mac, however
I
> have been asked to develop a series of games for Mac and PC so need to get
a
> Mac to enable me to do so. The games will be delivered as downloadable
> executables.
>
> I would therefore appreciate any advice on what to get. I currently
develop
> using Flash CS3. I would prefer to spend as little as possible and was
> therefore considering the Mac Mini but believe this may be a bit long in
the
> tooth. I would prefer if it was intel too so I can have a dabble with the
> iPhone development software. I need to get this Mac within the next couple
> of weeks too so I can't wait too long. My budget is £1000 maximum but less
> would be better as I don't know if I will get any more jobs that require
> development on a Mac or not.
>
> Any advice much appreciated..
>
> Paul
>
>
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Re: [Flashcoders] Recommendation for budget development mac

2008-10-17 Thread Ian Thomas
I suspect it depends how many pixels you're throwing around!

We create fairly straightforward educational 'games' for young kids,
and the Mac Mini (which is Intel these days, by the way) has been
perfectly adequate as a testbed for our software. What's more, if
you're actually authoring on the PC and testing on the Mac (which is
how we do it) you'll probably want to be testing on the slowest of the
Macs anyway, to ensure that your end-users don't have something that's
too slow.

The Mac Mini is a nice piece of compact kit. It has another big
advantage over many other macs if you're using it as a second machine
(e.g. for testing); you can plug in external keyboard, mouse and
monitor. Which means I've got my Mac Mini hooked up to the same
screen, mouse and keyboard as my PC (via a switcher). That way I can
do a build on the PC, switch to Mac for testing, switch to PC to fix
that annoying bug, repeat until fixed...

I heartily recommend it.

Ian


On Fri, Oct 17, 2008 at 1:01 PM, Paul Steven <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Up until now I have never needed to develop anything for the Mac, however I
> have been asked to develop a series of games for Mac and PC so need to get a
> Mac to enable me to do so. The games will be delivered as downloadable
> executables.
>
> I would therefore appreciate any advice on what to get. I currently develop
> using Flash CS3. I would prefer to spend as little as possible and was
> therefore considering the Mac Mini but believe this may be a bit long in the
> tooth. I would prefer if it was intel too so I can have a dabble with the
> iPhone development software. I need to get this Mac within the next couple
> of weeks too so I can't wait too long. My budget is £1000 maximum but less
> would be better as I don't know if I will get any more jobs that require
> development on a Mac or not.
>
> Any advice much appreciated..
>
> Paul
>
>
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