What Mac to develop on?

Classic Servoy
1

I am getting ready to start a major project in Servoy and currently am on an eMac 1gHz 768mb machine. Things are SLOW! :x I know that Java is slower on the Mac platform and I really don’t want to go Windows.

What level of machine will give a reasonably good performance such that I am not constantly waiting a couple of seconds for the screen to redraw?
Of course, I need to balance cost vs functionality.

Will a 1.6gHz G5 iMac work well? Is dual proc. the only way to go (hope not)?

Input welcome!

2

firestorm:
Will a 1.6gHz G5 iMac work well? Is dual proc. the only way to go (hope not)?

I use Developer on my 1.33Mhz PB 17" as my development environment and it’s very decent.
So a 1.6Ghz G5 iMac will do nicely.

3

Hi John,

I use a 1.5Ghz G4 Powerbook for development. My Servoy Developer starts in about 35 seconds and is very usable – much more responsive than FM7.

General Points:

  • make sure you run the latest OS, 10.4.x
  • make sure you upgrade java if your software update prompts you to.
  • java 1.5 or (aka 5.0) may also speed things up, but search the forum on how to get Servoy to use it.

Startup:

  • you can also prestart your database on startup, Sybase, mySQL, PostgreSQL or whatever you have decided to use.

Screen Redraws:

  • There is also a possibility to limit the number of records Sevoy fetches at the time as this can make a big difference with remote databases over slow connections.

Hope this helps,

4

I use a G4 Dual 1.25ghz and its fine, upgrading to 10.4 made the biggest difference to the speed. I am also hosting servoy on an Xserve of the same spec ie G4 Dual 1.25ghz and thats worked perfectly after some issues with autostarting Sybase.

Gordon :)

5

Gordon McLean:
I use a G4 Dual 1.25ghz and its fine, upgrading to 10.4 made the biggest difference to the speed.

I agree. Tiger gives java a real speed bump …

6

Well this is all reassuring. I am currently using Panther so that is part of the problem.

Thank you for all of your input!

7

This is the link mentioned by swingman for speeding up things a lot on startup:

8

Thanks John (and swingman)! That looks very useful. I have a feeling there are alot of nuggets buried in the forum. Mining them is another thing.

9

How about VRAM? Does that affect screen redraw? 128MB v. 64MB…

Jim Schliestett

10

Jim,

Be careful with any increase in VRAM… I don’t think VRAM is legal in the state of Maine! You really should move to Massachusetts…

;-)

Cheers,

Rich

11

Rich, I believe it is VROOM that is legal in Massachusetts. At least that’s what Mainers seem to notice by looking at your license plates (when we can even see them as they whiz by, ayuh).

Be careful with any increase in VRAM… I don’t think VRAM is legal in the state of Maine! You really should move to Massachusetts…