Can I use a hackintosh laptop for iPhone development? Will Xcode run on a non-Apple laptop?

I’ve been asked questions about iPhone development using a hackintosh quite often. I have no doubt these questions are triggered by stories of the $$$ to be made in selling iPhone apps on AppStore. What about me? I did think about getting into iPhone development, but the thought of learning Objective-C and the iPhone SDK was too much for me. For the past few months, I’ve been learning Ruby on Rails and picking up the Django web framework, Google App Engine and Yahoo User Interface library. My brain will overload if I start learning another programming language.

So, I’m not starting on iPhone development any time soon. But to satisfy my curiosity on whether the Dell Mini 10v hackintosh can handle iPhone development, I decided to try out Xcode and the iPhone SDK.

iPhone Development on a Dell Mini 10v?

Will the 1.66GHz Intel Atom Dell Mini 10v with 1GB RAM be able to handle Xcode and iPhone development? What kind of performance can I expect from the Mini 10v? I have Xcode and the iPhone SDK on my MacBook. The MacBook with a 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo CPU and 2GB RAM handles Xcode with the iPhone SDK smoothly. Will I be able to say the same about the Mini 10v hackintosh?

Getting Xcode and the iPhone SDK

Xcode is available in the Snow Leopard Retail DVD. You can download the free iPhone SDK from the Apple Developer website. You’ll need to sign up for a developer account first. If you want to submit your iPhone app to the AppStore, then you’ll need to pay $99 to join the Standard iPhone Developer Program.

Surprisingly Good Performance

I was surprised that 1GB RAM is sufficient to run Xcode and the iPhone Simulator without any noticeable slow down at all. For my initial test, I wrote a Hello World application. The application compiled and started instantly on the iPhone Simulator.

The iPhone Simulator is too tall to display fully in the Dell Mini 10v LCD display. You can rotate the iPhone simulator sideways to get the full display.

iPhone Simulator rotated sideways and running Safari.

Next, it’s time for a real world test on Xcode. I downloaded an open source Twitter client for the iPhone, Tweetero and built it from scratch. A clean build of Tweetero took 32 seconds to complete and start in the iPhone simulator. I’m impressed. Subsequent build and run was instantaneous.

Tweetero on the iPhone Simulator with Xcode and Google Chrome in the background.

Poor Usability

Programming on a netbook with a small keyboard and trackpad takes a lot of patience. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. While using Xcode, I spent a lot of time switching between windows and moving windows around on the small netbook screen. Using an external monitor made things easier. If you’re going to use the Dell Mini 10v for iPhone development, get an external monitor.

Xcode on the tiny Dell Mini 10v display

Running Xcode on a Dell Mini 10v connected to a 22″ Dell LCD Monitor,

My Conclusion

If you want to try your hand on iPhone development, the Dell Mini 10v hackintosh should be good enough for you to get your feet wet. For any real work, I would recommend upgrading the Dell Mini 10v to 2GB of RAM, connecting it to an external VGA monitor, keyboard and mouse. Using the tiny screen, keyboard and trackpad for programming may drive you crazy. Once the big bucks come rolling in from the sales of your iPhone app on AppStore, you can get yourself a nice MacBook Pro.

Are you using a hackintosh laptop/PC for iPhone development? Share your experience with us in the comments below.

iphone development, objective-c, xcode