Qualcomm quietly introduces the Snapdragon X Elite Mini PC, the perfect alternative to the Apple Mac Mini — and it’s not as expensive as you might think
Qualcomm has introduced the Snapdragon Dev Kit for Windows, a compact mini PC designed to simplify the development of next-generation Windows applications and AI experiences. But you can use the kit for whatever purpose you want, and it’s a perfect, affordable alternative to Apple’s Mac Mini.
At the heart of the Snapdragon Dev Kit is a Snapdragon X Elite X1E-00-1DE chipset, which features a 12-core Qualcomm Oryon CPU capable of speeds of up to 3.8GHz, along with dual-core boost capability up to 4.3GHz. The Adreno GPU delivers up to 4.6 TFLOPS and the Hexagon NPU up to 45 TOPS, accelerating AI/ML workloads and enabling local execution of LLMs and LVMs, reducing the need for cloud resources.
The Dev Kit runs Windows 11 and comes with 32GB of LPDDR5x RAM and 512GB of fast NVMe storage. It includes two USB 3.2 Type-A ports, three USB 4 ports, a full-size HDMI port, an RJ45 Ethernet connection, and a 3.5mm audio jack. The device supports connectivity with up to three UHD monitors and can accommodate multiple units in development and testing environments. It also features the Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 Mobile Connectivity System, which supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4.
Cheaper than Surface Pro 11
The Snapdragon Dev Kit is primarily intended to help developers build, debug, test, and port native applications for Windows on Snapdragon, and optimizes CPU, GPU, and NPU performance. It leverages the native Arm64 toolchain, including Visual Studio and VS Code, and supports scalable application development with Arm64 VMs and CI/CD infrastructure.
At $899.99, the Snapdragon Dev Kit is the most affordable option in the Snapdragon X series. Check notebook notes that this price is lower than the Surface Pro 11, which starts at $989 and features the Snapdragon X Plus X1P-64-100 chipset with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.
The Snapdragon Dev Kit, measuring 199mm x 175mm x 35mm and weighing 970g, is available exclusively from ArrowThe device is available in black and has a housing made from 20% recycled ocean plastic.