Jun 30, 2020 11:08:00

Benchmark score of Mac mini equipped with Apple's uniquely designed processor is 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, ' which mounts Apple's proprietary ARM-based processor on a Mac, was announced. Then, the Mac mini equipped with the A12Z processor arrived at the hands of the developers participating in the program, and the benchmark score was 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/

A Mac mini equipped with the same A12Z processor as the 3rd generation iPad Pro is lent as a Developer Transition Kit (DTK) to developers who participate in the Universal App Quick Start Program with a participation fee of $ 500 (about 54,000 yen) I will. The specifications of the DTK version Mac mini are as follows.

In order for the DTK to be loaned, program participants must agree to the confidentiality clause. However, 22 benchmark scores have already been reported by Geekbench for the DTK version Mac mini at the time of writing the article. On average, single-core scores range from 800 to 850, while multi-core scores are just under 3000.

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

However, note that the DTK version Mac mini, which has a different processor architecture, runs Geekbench virtually using Rosetta , Apple's binary compatibility technology. According to 9to5Mac, a media outlet for Apple news, performance is probably 25-40% lower, although there's no certainty as there isn't enough information on the performance characteristics of macOS Big Sur 's Rosetta 2 technology. In other words, the actual performance performance is considered to be slightly higher than the measured value.

The 2020 model of the MacBook Air announced in March 2020 recorded 1005 for single core and 2016 for multicore. In addition, Microsoft's Surface Pro X has recorded about 700 with single core and less than 3000 with multi core.

One of the developers, Steve Troughton-Smith, compared the scores of the DTK Mac mini and Surface Pro X, and said, ``The DTK Mac mini with the same chip as the 2018 iPad Pro is emulated. Despite running the x86_64 code, Surface Pro X launched in 2020 is faster than running it natively.'

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 Mac mini is a development machine for developers to port apps to Apple Silicon+macOS Big Sur. The 9to5 Mac expects the Apple Silicon-powered Macs that Apple will actually bring to the market to outperform the DTK version of the Mac mini.