I’m considering starting iOS development as a hobby and would like to save some money if possible. I’ve got an opportunity to pick up a first-gen Intel MacBook from a family member for cheap, and while I’m not especially concerned about the speed (or software other than Xcode), Wikipedia tells me this model can’t support Lion. Wikipedia also tells me that Xcode 4.3 is only available for Lion, though from other questions on here, it seems that the iOS 5 SDK will work on Xcode 4.2.
My question is, am I losing meaningful functionality by limiting myself to Xcode 4.2? As the “proud” owner of a PowerMac G5, I really don’t want to put myself in a situation where I’m going to have to spend more money in the near future just to continue using relevant software.
Reading the release notes, it appears that Xcode 4.3 is required to target iOS devices running version 5.1 (or greater, although that version hasn’t shipped yet). So long as you’re comfortable using the existing functionality in iOS, you have nothing to worry about, as you can still download all the SDKs for existing iOS versions.
At some point there will probably be features in iOS versions > 5.1 that you’ll want to target, and you will need to upgrade to a newer development machine that can run Lion for that. In the meantime, there are PLENTY of APIs available that you can play with and there isn’t much to worry about.