3 reasons why the Snapdragon Dev Kit is the Mac Mini killer we've been waiting for

After months of anticipation, Qualcomm and Microsoft have finally shown us what the future holds for Windows on Arm. Qualcomm's Snapdragon X platform powers a total of 14 new laptops, and Microsoft's Copilot+ unlocks a number of new AI features on those devices. And Microsoft Build was also in on the action, and last week saw plenty of high-profile announcements in the Windows world. Amid all the noise, the announcement that stood out to me the most was one that shouldn't even matter to the average consumer.

For developers looking to optimize their apps for Windows on Arm, Qualcomm offers the Snapdragon Dev Kit. It's not the first development kit for Windows on Arm, but it's certainly the most exciting. The Snapdragon Dev Kit is essentially a mini PC with a Snapdragon X Elite system-on-a-chip at its heart. It costs $900, making it the cheapest way to get a Snapdragon X Elite processor. With price, performance, and size, the Snapdragon Dev Kit is a natural competitor to the Mac Mini. In many ways, it's a better mini PC than the Mac Mini, and these are three reasons why.

3 It is actually compact

The Mac Mini is, well, not very “mini”

Apple has clearly gotten lazy with the Mac Mini, as the computer's design hasn't changed much in over a decade. While the latest M2 Mac Mini is still much taller than a tower, it's gigantic compared to cutting-edge mini PCs and NUCs. If you don't think the Mac Mini could be smaller, just scroll through the photo gallery above. I took my M2 Mac Mini apart to show how much empty space is left in the Mac Mini's chassis. It's a lot, and it shows that the Mac Mini isn't as “mini” as it could be.

Looking at the dimensions, the Mac Mini and Snapdragon Dev Kit actually have similar dimensions. The Mac Mini measures 7.75 x 7.75 x 1.41 inches, while the Snapdragon Dev Kit measures 8 x 7 x 1.3 inches. You might not notice it right away on the spec sheet, but the Snapdragon Dev Kit's smaller width and height go a long way toward making it feel more compact on your desk. It also doesn't seem like any compromises were made to achieve this form factor. The Snapdragon Dev Kit has three USB-C ports, two USB-A ports, an Ethernet jack, an HDMI port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

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2 The exclusive Snapdragon X Elite chip

You won't find this 80W TDP SoC in any Snapdragon X laptop

Of course, the size of the Snapdragon Dev Kit doesn’t matter if it can’t compete with a Mac Mini in terms of performance. However, I would like to point out that we Despite it I haven't seen how the Snapdragon X platform performs in practice yet, but everything points to Snapdragon X Elite being able to handle the Mac Mini's M2 chipset. Moreover, the big advantage of the Snapdragon Dev Kit is that it uses a Snapdragon X variant that isn't available in a laptop. The desktop has a more powerful SoC with a higher TDP of 80W. That means the Snapdragon Dev Kit should offer the best performance of any Snapdragon X device you can buy today.

This exclusive Snapdragon X Elite chip features a 12-core Oryon CPU running at 3.8GHz and an Adreno GPU. Two of these CPU cores can be boosted to 4.4GHz with this particular Snapdragon X Elite configuration. The Snapdragon X Elite SoCs found in consumer laptops can only be boosted to 4.2GHz or 4.0GHz depending on the configuration. That's one tangible way this Snapdragon X Elite chip benefits from a more powerful configuration and higher TDP, but more are likely to come over time. If you want the best Snapdragon X Elite chip on the market today, you'll need to buy the Snapdragon Dev Kit.

1 The price is competitive

An M2 with 8GB RAM? Actually I would take Snapdragon X Elite with 32GB instead

At first glance, it would be easy to argue that the Mac Mini offers better value for money than the Snapdragon Dev Kit. The former costs $600, while the latter costs $900. However, it's important to remember that the base model of the Mac Mini comes with an M2 chip, 8GB of shared memory, and 256GB of storage. A better comparison to the Snapdragon Dev Kit's performance and configuration would probably be the Mac Mini with an M2 Pro SoC, but that model starts at $1,300—significantly more than the Snapdragon Dev Kit. Despite the higher cost, the Mac Mini with M2 Pro actually has less memory than the Snapdragon Dev Kit, as the two machines have 16GB and 32GB of RAM, respectively.

Benchmarks next month will confirm that the Snapdragon Dev Kit is faster and offers more memory than the Mac Mini at a lower price. Of course, it's possible that an M3 or M4 Mac Mini could tip things in Apple's favor, but there are no reports that a new Mac Mini is nearing release. The Snapdragon Dev Kit is more expensive than the Mac Mini, but offers better value for money.

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Anyone can buy this thing, and maybe you should

This is a development kit and it's clearly intended for developers. It doesn't have a flashy design, nor does it look consumer-friendly. However, Qualcomm isn't restricting who can buy the $900 Snapdragon Dev Kit. Anyone can sign up to pre-order the mini PC now, and general availability will begin next month. Long one of the best compact desktop computers, the Mac Mini saw new life when Apple added an M-series processor and lowered the price a few years ago. But it didn't have much competition. Now that the Snapdragon Dev Kit exists, there's a real argument for buying it instead of a Mac Mini.

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