Although FileMaker is available for both Mac OS X and Windows, a Mac is now often considered the "better PC" for developing FileMaker databases. Why? Precisely because FileMaker is available for both operating systems. Since all available Windows versions can be conveniently run in parallel to Mac OS X on a Mac with the help of programs such as Parallels Desktop, VMware Fusion or Sun VirtualBox, database solutions can be developed seamlessly across platforms with a Mac.
In this article, I present the currently available hardware program from Apple and reveal which Mac is best suited for which target group. I also discuss the special requirements for FileMaker developers.
Apple notebooks: Stable, more stable, Apple.
The word "stability" applies to Apple notebooks in two respects: firstly, the unibody housing is extremely robust and torsion-resistant, and secondly, the devices run one of the most modern operating systems in the world, which only needs to be restarted in practice when installing a few system updates.
In addition, there are many other advantages such as the cross-system Spotlight search, easy migration from one Mac to another and the fact that viruses and malware hardly ever occur in practice. The operating system of my own MacBook, on which I am currently writing this text, has its origins in Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger". This was included with my first Intel Mac at the time, a Mac mini, in 2006. Since then, I have migrated the installation of this system, including all programs, settings, e-mail accounts, etc., from 2006 to a total of six different Macs - both desktops and notebooks - and am still writing this article on this installation, which is now almost five years old. Of course, the latest Apple operating system - Mac OS X 10.6.6 - does all the work on the current Mac.
Out of curiosity, I started a virus scanner a few days ago, which scanned my hard disk for malware with all the files from the first installation until today. Result: "No infected files were found on Macintosh HD". Thanks to the convenient use of FileMaker Go On an iPhone or an iPad, the Mac is also superior to its Windows counterpart in this respect, because the connection of mobile devices under iOS is integrated across all systems on a Mac.
Now we come to the Apple notebooks. Apple currently offers three notebook lines: The MacBook with a polycarbonate unibody case, the MacBook Air as one of the thinnest and lightest notebooks in the world with an 11″ or 13″ display and the MacBook Pro series with a 13″, 15″ or 17″ widescreen display. Below you will find an overview of all currently available devices and their target group.
Apple MacBook - affordable all-rounder without Firewire
The Apple MacBook is the only device of all the Apple notebook product lines that comes with a plastic casing. However, this does not necessarily mean that this is a disadvantage for Apple. Thanks to the unibody housing, the device is extremely stable and torsion-resistant. Unibody means that the housing has been milled from a single block of plastic and does not consist of countless individual parts that have to be held together with screws or other fastening methods, as is usual with conventional notebooks.
The speed of the Apple MacBook is more than sufficient for most FileMaker developers. The Intel Core 2 Duo processor delivers decent performance, and the graphics chip is at a level that seems rather excessive for pure database developers. Of course, the MacBook should not be operated with the standard 2 GB of RAM - at least 4 GB of memory should be given to the MacBook - especially if another operating system such as Windows is to be run in parallel.
The 13″ widescreen display with a resolution of 1,280 x 800 pixels is not necessarily one of the largest screens, but the resolution is sufficient for "normal work" and the (slightly) reflective display has an enormous brightness and image sharpness. The only downside of the MacBook is the lack of a Firewire port.Interface. This makes the migration of the system installation somewhat more difficult and prevents the connection of Firewire components. On the other hand, the MacBook's battery lasts up to ten hours without a power outlet. The iSight camera at the top of the screen and the built-in microphone make it easy to hold audio and video conferences via iChat or Skype. All in all, the MacBook is an affordable and stable all-rounder with good speed in all respects.
Thinner, thinner, Apple MacBook Air.
The MacBook Air is available with 11″ and 13″ widescreen displays, which have a resolution of 1,366 x 768 (11″) or 1,440 x 900 pixels (13″) and are therefore very high-resolution displays in both cases. The stable and extremely flat aluminum unibody housing of the MacBook Air is only 1.06 kg (11″) or 1.32 kg (13″) extremely light. The first generation of the MacBook Air was unfortunately only supplied with 2 GB of RAM - the current generation is now also available with 4 GB of RAM, which makes running two parallel operating systems much more convenient.
The performance of the Intel Core 2 Duo processors and the integrated GeForce 320M graphics chipset is very good for the development of FileMaker databases. The integrated hard disk based on flash memory, which can read and write data significantly faster than conventional hard disks, also ensures generally high performance. The battery life of the MacBook Air is five hours in operation and 30 days in standby mode. The iSight camera at the top of the screen and the built-in microphone make it easy to hold audio and video conferences via iChat or Skype.
The MacBook Pro with 13″, 15″ or 17″ widescreen display
All notebooks in Apple's MacBook Pro line have a unibody aluminum casing and are therefore extremely robust and stable. The devices are available with 13″, 15″ or 17″ widescreen displays - the 15″ and 17″ MacBook Pro can optionally be purchased with a high-resolution matt anti-glare display. All MacBook Pros have a backlit keyboard with brightness sensor and an integrated Superdrive (DVD burner). The iSight camera at the top of the screen and the built-in microphone make it easy to hold audio and video conferences via iChat or Skype.
Apple MacBook Pro 13″ - the most compact Pro notebook from Apple
The MacBook Pro 13″ has an Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 2.4 or 2.66 GHz and can be equipped with up to 8 GB DDR3 RAM. Although the display with a native resolution of 1,280 x 800 pixels is only available as a glossy widescreen, it is extremely bright, which significantly reduces any reflections. The 13″ MacBook Pro line has two USB 2.0 ports, Firewire 800, Gigabit Ethernet, Mini DisplayPort for an additional display and a slot for SD cards.
For a notebook with an integrated superdrive (DVD burner), the 13″ MacBook Pro is extremely compact, robust and versatile. In the Apple Store, these devices are configurable up to 500 GB hard disk capacity, other retailers such as macXperts offer this notebook with up to 1 TB hard disk or even with two integrated hard disks or SSD drives.
Apple MacBook Pro 15″ - the professional all-rounder.
The 15″ MacBook Pro from Apple is particularly popular because it combines very high performance with good mobility. The glossy display in this notebook line has a diagonal of 15.4 inches and is available with a native resolution of 1,440 x 900 pixels or as a high-res display with a glossy or matt anti-glare surface with a resolution of 1,680 x 1050 pixels.
Apple uses an Intel Core i5 processor with 2.4 or 2.53 GHz or an Intel Core i7 processor with 2.66 or 2.8 GHz as the processor in the 15″ MacBook Pro. Together with the GeForce 330M graphics chip with 256 or 512 MB of graphics memory, these modern processors offer enormous performance that goes far beyond the requirements of pure FileMaker database development. Interfaces such as Firewire 800, Mini DisplayPort, USB 2.0 or an SD card slot are just as much a part of the equipment as the integrated Superdrive.
The 15″ MacBook Pro is available in the Apple Store with up to 500 GB hard disk or solid state drives with up to 512 GB capacity - retailers such as macXperts also offer other configurations with up to 1 TB hard disk or even two internal hard disks or SSD drives.
MacBook Pro 17″ - desktop replacement with Full HD widescreen display
The Apple MacBook Pro 17″ is available with an Intel Core i5 processor with 2.53 GHz or with a Core i7 processor with 2.66 or 2.8 GHz. The display has a Full HD resolution of 1,920 x 1,200 pixels and can be configured as a glossy or optional matt anti-glare display. In contrast to the smaller models, the 17″ model also offers an ExpressCard/32 slot. The battery life of the 17″ MacBook Pro is around eight to nine hours.
Apple desktops: From the tiny to the powerful.
When it comes to Apple desktops, "mini" really means mini and "Pro" really means fast. In the mid-range segment, the iMac offers a high-performance and easily expandable desktop solution with at least Full HD resolution.
Apple Mac mini: The minimal principle perfected.
Despite its extremely small dimensions of just 19.7 cm edge length and 3.6 cm height and a weight of 1.36 kg, the Mac mini has high performance and is also very expandable thanks to its Intel Core 2 Duo processor and powerful NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics chipset. According to Apple, the Mac mini is the most energy-efficient desktop computer in the world. The Intel Core 2 Duo processor is available with a clock frequency of 2.4 GHz or 2.66 GHz.
Apple only equips the Mac mini with 2 GB of RAM as standard - but this can easily be expanded to 4 GB or even 8 GB. With its two digital graphics interfaces, Mini DisplayPort and HDMI, up to two displays can be connected to the Mac mini. For use as a media center, a digital flat screen TV can easily be connected directly to the Mac mini via the HDMI interface. The integrated GeForce 320M graphics chipset with up to 256 MB of graphics memory (together with the main memory) is more than sufficient for FileMaker requirements. The Mac mini also includes an integrated Superdrive that can also burn DVDs and can be configured by Apple with hard disks of up to 500 GB capacity. Other retailers such as macXperts also offer the Mac mini with larger and faster hard disks up to 750 GB capacity or with fast solid state drives.
Apple iMac: Well expandable all-in-one desktop Mac.
The Apple iMac is available with a 21.5″ or 27″ widescreen display (16:9, 1,920 x 1,080 or 2,560 x 1,440 pixel resolution) and has a wide range of processors from the 3.06 GHz Intel Core i3 to the 2.93 GHz Quad Core i7. All iMacs come with 4 GB of RAM and are supplied with a wireless Magic Mouse and the Apple Wireless Keyboard. The performance of the Quad Core i5 and i7 processors is so high that such an iMac can easily compete with even an older generation Mac Pro.
The working memory of every Apple iMac can be equipped with up to 16 GB DDR3 RAM thanks to four slots. The new Apple iMac comes from the factory with 4 GB of RAM in the form of two 2 GB DDR3 memory modules. The small 21.5″ iMac accommodates a hard disk with 500 GB capacity - all other iMacs can be equipped with 1 TB or 2 TB hard disks, the 27″ models even with a hard disk and an additional solid state drive with 256 GB capacity. All iMacs have dedicated graphics cards ranging from the ATI Radeon 4670 with 256 MB DDR3 graphics memory to the ATI Radeon 5750 with 512 MB DDR3 graphics memory. The devices also have four USB 2.0 ports, a Firewire 800 interface and an SDXC card slot. Airport Extreme, Bluetooth 2.0 and 10/100/1000BaseT Ethernet are standard features, as is now the case with every Mac.
Of course, every iMac is also equipped with an integrated Superdrive (DVD burner). The iSight camera at the top of the screen and the built-in microphone make it easy to hold audio and video conferences via iChat or Skype.
Apple Mac Pro: The "monster Mac" for professionals.
That you can use a Mac Pro not only for pure FileMaker purposes (except as a Server) should be clear. With its Intel Xeon processors with four or up to 12 processor cores and a maximum RAM of 32 GB, the Mac Pro is a powerful workstation for professional users who want to use the device for many other (computing-intensive) tasks in addition to FileMaker. The Mac Pro is available in two different versions: The small version has an Intel Quad Core Xeon "Nehalem" processor with 2.8 or 3.2 GHz and can optionally be equipped with a 6-core Intel Xeon "Westmere" processor. The maximum memory capacity of this device is 16 GB, as the device has four expansion slots for RAM. The large version with 8-core and 12-core processors, on the other hand, can be equipped with up to 32 GB of RAM.
Inside, the Mac Pro offers space for up to four 3.5″ hard disks and two 5.25″ optical drives, each with a SATA connection. The device has a total of five USB 2.0 ports (two on the front), four Firewire 800 ports (two on the front), two RJ45 ports for 10/100/1000BaseT Ethernet, optical digital and analog audio inputs and outputs and two Mini-DisplayPort ports for external displays. The Mac Pro offers the option for two ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics cards and thus supports up to six connected displays. A Superdrive as a DVD burner, Airport Extreme and Bluetooth 2.0 are also included as standard, as are the USB 2.0 keyboard with numeric keypad and the wireless Apple Magic Mouse.
Conclusion: Any Mac is very suitable for FileMaker.
When it comes to the pure application or development of FileMaker databases, this task can be carried out with any Mac without any problems. If you want to work with FileMaker under both Mac OS X and Windows, it is advisable to increase the RAM to at least 4 GB. The server version of the Mac mini with two integrated hard disks is recommended as a server for FileMaker databases - for very large database systems with many users in the Network a Mac Pro with its fast Intel Xeon processors offers the highest overall performance as a server.
Markus Schall has been developing individual databases, interfaces and business applications based on Claris FileMaker since 1994. He is a Claris partner, FMM Award winner 2011 and developer of the ERP software gFM-Business. He is also a book author and founder of the M. Schall Publishers.
Great site! LG
This is a really nice article. Great advertising for Mac to be precise.
But I can't see any real reason to use a Mac instead of a Windows PC.
The reason given here for why the Mac is supposed to be better is that you can simulate all operating systems on it. But that's exactly the crux of the matter, you can do the same on a Windows PC. Even with the software mentioned here: VMWare.
The only difference is actually the price. A Macbook-Pro MC024D/A 43.2 cm (17 inch) currently costs 2349 euros on Amazon. A comparable model (hard disk, RAM, graphics card, processor) from Toshiba Satellite Pro L670-1E6 costs only 849 euros. Install VMWare and buy MAC OS X and you can do the same as with a Macbook.
The next advantage of a Toshiba notebook is the presentation of what has been developed outside the home. I don't need a special cable that doesn't even work with some devices to connect a beamer to a plasma TV. That works with a cheap cable from the supermarket.
The article is nicely structured and gives a nice overview of Apple products, but it is miles away from the title and the expectations associated with it. Personally, I expected a concrete for and against, which then also refers specifically to Filemaker.
Installing Mac OS X under VMware for Windows is technically possible in principle (there are even instructions on the Internet), but it violates Apple's license terms, and it remains to be seen whether Mac OS X really runs completely "reasonably" there.
The aforementioned Toshiba notebook has a dual-core i5 processor, WXGA resolution with 1600×900 pixels, Radeon HD 5650 graphics chip, DDR3 PC8500 memory, 0.3 megapixel webcam... and a plastic casing.
In contrast, the MacBook Pro comes in an aluminum unibody housing, has an Intel Quad Core i7 processor, Full HD resolution with 1920×1200 pixels, Radeon HD 6750 + Intel HD Graphics 3000, DDR3 PC10600 memory, HD webcam, keyboard illumination, Firewire 800, ExpressCard/32, multi-touch trackpad...
Ultimately, the MacBook Pro 17″ is in a completely different league to the aforementioned Toshiba notebook and therefore naturally costs more money. However, the resale value should not be disregarded here either: While you'll probably hardly get anything for the Toshiba notebook after three years, the MacBook Pro will still be worth a good 1,000 euros...
Of course, there is no question that the Toshiba notebook is easily sufficient in terms of computing power for pure FileMaker applications. But it doesn't (officially) run Mac OS X...
What is the difference between division, polarity and duality?
I haven't read all the Mac advertising. But here are a few pointers anyway. I'm still a Mac newbie, but as a computer scientist and software developer I have over 12 years of experience in the Unix and Windows world. I've been the proud owner of a MacBook Pro for a year now. My conclusion:
Mac is not better, but different.
To emphasize this, here are a few examples that Windows users know very well. On my MacBook Pro
- I sometimes wait a few seconds until, for example, this text is written on the screen. I type and type, and only after some time can the MacBook Pro mobilize enough power to display the text on the screen
- Videos in Safari and Firefox are generally jerky
- I must have had to restart the MacBook Pro 10 times because of various updates. Exactly the same as with Windows. I didn't make a note of how many GB of data had to be downloaded
- The MacBook Pro is no more intuitive to use. The Finder is an absolute disaster. Exactly the same as Windows
- There is no such thing as the "best operating system in the world". That has yet to be invented. What we call an operating system today will be perceived as a crutch in 30 or more years' time, which will hinder rather than facilitate walking
- On my MacBook Pro, especially when surfing, which is obviously a very demanding task for modern computers of any type, I often see the "Hourglass Display Program". Exactly the same as on the Windows computer
- It was not possible to migrate the ITunes database 1:1 to the Mac. All my additional settings were lost (e.g. the number of stars on the songs). I know there are options. But as a user, I have no desire to delve into the depths of system technology. That's exactly what a Mac should do for me. At least that's how I understand it.
- It was not possible to transfer simple text files from my Windows PC to the Mac. The character set is not correct, strange characters are displayed. Again, this is not something I like to do in my spare time. That's why I bought a Mac in the first place, because I thought it would make everything easier.
To date, I can only see one advantage. But I can't yet say how good it really is because I'm still at the beginning with this project. But I was very surprised when I started to familiarize myself with FileMaker. The fact that it can be published so easily on the web and iPhone made me feel very positive. But that alone is not necessarily a reason to buy a Mac....
Conclusion 2: Dear people, stop feeling divided between one or the other. And I mean that philosophically speaking. Recognize that this division arises from the principle of "divide and conquer". But it is not necessary. I personally find it much better to combine the advantages of one with the advantages of the other and to bring them together in a synthesis. That is what I will now try to do. And I am confident that I can succeed.