Jun 30, 2020 11:08:00

Benchmark scores of Mac mini equipped with Apple's proprietary processor revealed, revealing higher processing performance than Surface Pro X even in virtual environment

At Apple's

WWDC 2020 held on June 24, 2020, ' Apple Silicon ', an ARM processor developed by Apple for Macs, was announced. Developers who participated in the program received Mac minis equipped with A12Z processors , and benchmark scores were reported.

First benchmarks surface for Apple's ARM-based Developer Transition Kit - 9to5Mac
https://9to5mac.com/2020/06/29/first-benchmarks-surface-for-apples-arm-based-developer-transition-kit/

Apple's A12Z Under Rosetta Outperforms Microsoft's Native Arm-Based Surface Pro X - MacRumors
https://www.macrumors.com/2020/06/29/apple-rosetta-2-a12z-beats-surface-pro-x/?scrolla=5eb6d68b7fedc32c19ef33b4

First A12Z Bionic-Equipped Mac mini Benchmarks Surface, Showing Competent Levels of Performance
https://wccftech.com/mac-mini-a12z-bionic-benchmarks-surface/

Developers who participate in the Universal App Quick Start Program, which costs $500 (approximately 54,000 yen), will be loaned a Mac mini equipped with an A12Z processor, which is almost the same as the third-generation iPad Pro , as a Developer Transition Kit (DTK). The specifications of the DTK version of the Mac mini are as follows.

To receive the DTK, participants in the program must agree to a non-disclosure agreement. However, at the time of writing, 22 benchmark scores for the DTK Mac mini have already been reported using Geekbench . According to these, the average single-core score is around 800 to 850, and the multi-core score is just under 3000.

eperm-d995af6e2ef02771 - Geekbench 5 CPU Search - Geekbench Browser
https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/search?q=eperm-d995af6e2ef02771

However, it should be noted that the DTK version of the Mac mini, which has a different processor architecture, runs Geekbench virtually using Rosetta , Apple's binary compatibility technology. According to 9to5Mac, a media outlet that handles Apple-related news, there is not enough information about the performance characteristics of macOS Big Sur 's Rosetta 2 technology, so it is not certain, but the performance is probably 25 to 40% lower. In other words, the actual performance is probably a little higher than the measured value.

The 2020 model of the MacBook Air , announced in March 2020, recorded a single-core score of 1005 and a multi-core score of 2016. Microsoft's Surface Pro X also recorded a single-core score of about 700 and a multi-core score of just under 3000.

Steve Troughton-Smith, one of the developers, compared the scores of the DTK Mac mini and the Surface Pro X and pointed out that 'the DTK Mac mini, which has the same chip as the 2018 iPad Pro, is faster than the 2020 Surface Pro X running native x86_64 code, even though it's running it in emulation.'

So the DTK with a two year old iPad chip runs x86_64 code, in emulation, faster than the Surface Pro X runs it natively ???? Oh boy Qualcomm, what are you even doing? https://t.co/UAlZiwSsF8

— Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) June 29, 2020

The DTK version of the Mac mini is merely a development machine for developers to port apps to Apple Silicon + macOS Big Sur. 9to5Mac predicts that the Apple Silicon-equipped Mac that Apple will actually launch on the market will likely have higher performance than the DTK version of the Mac mini.