PSA for Developers: Mac Mini With A12Z Chip Cannot Be Repaired at Genius Bar or Service Provider

[kurosov]

Benchmarks are forbidden because obviously it's slow. Why else?
Their warning is the benchmark.

Benchmarks are obviously forbidden because the A12z will not be used in any ARM based macs for sale to the public, Benchmark results on a machine like this are pointless.

 

[Oculus Mentis]

If only Apple would sell a dev kit like the NVidia Jetson Xavier NX. I know, I’m daydreaming...

 

[CarlJ]

Benchmarks are obviously forbidden because the A12z will not be used in any ARM based macs for sale to the public, Benchmark results on a machine like this are pointless.

Pointless, and more to the point, highly misleading - there will be articles running in a week saying, "ARM Macs not all that fast after all", "why, it's no faster than a 2018 iPad Pro" (well, duh, that's the chip it's running, which is good enough for the task at hand).

 

[unplugme71]

Apple says you can't use the system for benchmark testing.

We’re not benchmark testing. We are just testing our benchmark software. Duh Apple
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The intel developer kits during the PPC to Intel transition ran pentium 4s back in the day, which never featured in a final product. These are literally only to provide native architecture and nothing else. The silicon in the final products will be different & make full use of the massively larger thermal threshold available to them.

Agreed. My guess is Apple has new processors but don’t want to give it away.

I wouldn’t doubt the mini would have 8 cores and 16GB for the same price as the intel $599 model.
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If you think Apple won’t have some sort of sticker inside that shows disassembly occurred during the loan-out you’ve got another thing coming.

Probably a glue or something. I would say say my pet ants crawled inside and I needed to get them out. And actually put ants inside so you have proof.

Or just say it was stolen and file a report.

 

[cmaier]

We’re not benchmark testing. We are just testing our benchmark software. Duh Apple
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Agreed. My guess is Apple has new processors but don’t want to give it away.

I wouldn’t doubt the mini would have 8 cores and 16GB for the same price as the intel $599 model.

No need to guess. Apple has been quite clear that the new machines will use an array of processors different than what is in the development kits.

 

[CarlJ]

Or just say it was stolen and file a report.

That's a crime, last time I checked (and not traffic ticket level, but rather misdemeanor or felony level).