I'm planing to develop an app with React Native for Android and iOS. I need to buy a Mac to run Xcode for iOS app development.
I do not have a high budget, which is why I would prefer to buy a (used) Mac with the minimum required specifications that is able to run the latest version of Xcode and iPhone simulator. The app I want to develop is mostly running in the background, so there will be no heavy graphics or computations.
I know this has been asked before, but it's been a few years since then, that's why I ask again.
I'm happy about any comments about RAM, Processor, manufacturing year or anything else.
Edit (November 2019):
Just wanted to give future visitors an update: I spent a few hours to test macinacloud, however since it felt pretty slow and a bit overcomplicated, in the end I decided to get a used Mac Mini from late 2014 with 8 GB RAM. In general I am very happy with it, everything works fine (not super fast, but not too slow either). Sometimes I am hitting the limits (for example when running an iOS simulator and having too many other programs running at the same time), however I am always able to just close the ones I am not using right now and get everything to run fluently again.
Thanks for the advice everyone, I hope this can help some other iOS-developement-beginners 🙂
Best Answer
Xcode 10 is available in the Mac App Store and includes SDKs for iOS 12, watchOS 5, macOS 10.14, and tvOS 12. Xcode 10 supports on-device debugging for iOS 8 and later, tvOS 9 and later, and watchOS 2 and later. Xcode 10 requires a Mac running macOS 10.13.6 or later.
Any 64-bit Mac with 8 GB of RAM and at least 200GB of disk space should do, if you don't care much about your time (compiles can be slow).
If I were scraping rock bottom, I would head over to https://www.apple.com/shop/refurbished/mac and wait for an 8 GB Mac Mini to show up. Check every morning around 8 AM PDT and again at 5 PM PDT. Be patient...which will prepare you for compiles that take 10 minutes each turn, but it'll work.
You'll still need a keyboard, mouse and monitor obviously, but you can get those at Best Buy refurbished. Also, consider Craigslist.org and any other site where you can buy used Macs.