I'm glad you see my point. You need something external - a projector or a monitor - so the advantages of a laptop are illusory.

Your experience of using XCode may differ from mine but I find a Mac Mini with a decent monitor a far better proposition than a laptop with a 13 or 15" display. With XCode real estate is at a premium.

My mistake - when you were referring to Monitors and people crowding around a laptop, I didn't realise that you actually meant a projector.

Read the post more carefully next time.

Dead on. It's like those old "Spot the Goalposts" competions from last century.

Indeed, your mistake. External screen, external projector - no difference. Either means that a laptop is of no advantage. And at less than half the price I would say the Mini is well worth considering. You could even afford an Air as well, if you need portability, and still end up spending less thna buying a 17" MacBook Pro.

But, rather than just criticizing everyone else, tell us about your experiences developing with XCode. Do you find a 15" screen sufficient?

When in a hole, it is better to stop digging. I'm sorry that you didn't know about projectors, but they have been around for a while and are certainly the norm where I work.

I have a 15" (early 2011) - Apple offer a high resolution (1680x1050) screen for the 15, whereas the 13" is stuck with quite low resolutions. The 15" is a bit heavier though.

I went with the high resolution and anti-glare, which gives the silver surround as on the MacBook Air range, rather than the black surround you see on the website. I prefer it