I've recently transitioned into basically a full time web developer. I sort of unintentionally fell into it, when I discovered that I was a bit more artistic than I'd given my self credit for in the past.
I've been a windows guy for long time, and started using Linux, Fedora and Ubuntu, heavily a few years ago. When I wasn't doing front end work, my options were sufficient. Now that I've got to be more thorough in dealing with cross-platform issues, I need to branch out into macs.
I basically need to be able to test email rendering on OSX and iOS devices, and I need to test browser rendering on Mac Safari, Mac Firefox, iOS Safari, and Opera Mobile.
I've considered building a Hackintosh, but I don't want to muck around with hardware compatibility issues, and I don't want to have to struggle to keep the system updated. I'm not certain that rendering issues are completely hardware independent, and don't want to introduce that variable into the equation, even though it's unlikely to present itself. Nonetheless, depending on the hardware, I could see this saving some money, or letting me dual boot one of my current systems with only minor tweaks. Is there a foolproof way to accomplish this that I'm missing?
I'm leaning toward just getting a Mac Mini, and being done with it. I have plenty of monitors (too many, according to some), so don't think the an iMac makes sense. I'll probably go with a new one, as the refurbished discounts are mediocre. Is there a product refresh expected soon? The Core 2 processors will be fine for my purposes, but if there's something looming, I can wait.
When it comes to testing iOS rendering, does anyone have experience with the developer SDK? I'd rather not have to buy an iPad and iPhone, but with the different resolutions, am feeling pessimistic.
Hardware aside, I need to install the relevant email applications. I understand that Mac Mail is the default and most used. Is there anything else that's particularly popular I need to be testing?
And yes, this is a somewhat lazy post. I'm sure that I could find all this out with a bit of google work, but I find that atmosphere here to be reassuring.
I've been a windows guy for long time, and started using Linux, Fedora and Ubuntu, heavily a few years ago. When I wasn't doing front end work, my options were sufficient. Now that I've got to be more thorough in dealing with cross-platform issues, I need to branch out into macs.
I basically need to be able to test email rendering on OSX and iOS devices, and I need to test browser rendering on Mac Safari, Mac Firefox, iOS Safari, and Opera Mobile.
I've considered building a Hackintosh, but I don't want to muck around with hardware compatibility issues, and I don't want to have to struggle to keep the system updated. I'm not certain that rendering issues are completely hardware independent, and don't want to introduce that variable into the equation, even though it's unlikely to present itself. Nonetheless, depending on the hardware, I could see this saving some money, or letting me dual boot one of my current systems with only minor tweaks. Is there a foolproof way to accomplish this that I'm missing?
I'm leaning toward just getting a Mac Mini, and being done with it. I have plenty of monitors (too many, according to some), so don't think the an iMac makes sense. I'll probably go with a new one, as the refurbished discounts are mediocre. Is there a product refresh expected soon? The Core 2 processors will be fine for my purposes, but if there's something looming, I can wait.
When it comes to testing iOS rendering, does anyone have experience with the developer SDK? I'd rather not have to buy an iPad and iPhone, but with the different resolutions, am feeling pessimistic.
Hardware aside, I need to install the relevant email applications. I understand that Mac Mail is the default and most used. Is there anything else that's particularly popular I need to be testing?
And yes, this is a somewhat lazy post. I'm sure that I could find all this out with a bit of google work, but I find that atmosphere here to be reassuring.