How to get a brand new Apple Mac mini for less than $1 (there is a catch)

When Apple launched its stunning M1 chip devices last year, the company garnered attention for the chip’s ability to trim the fat from its processor, increase its energy-saving performance, and boost the overall processing power.

Now, rather than handing over the hefty fee it costs for a new Mac mini, cloud-hosting company, Scaleway, is offering people the chance to rent time on Apple M1 Mac minis for only 12 cents per hour. 

We love Apple’s M1-powered devices at T3, where we seem to be eternally toing and froing between our favorite piece of kit between the MacBook Pro 13-inch M1 or Apple MacBook Air (M1, 2020). With the France-based company, Scaleway, now giving users the chance to rent the Apple M1 Mac mini as-a-Service, it means that companies can sign up and collaborate remotely on projects through the cloud without having to physically take ownership.

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Apple's M1 Mac mini offers a very lean computing experience: owing to its lack of battery, power consumption really isn’t an issue. Using the same chip as its portable relatives, it offers similarly blazing speeds. The M1-fueled MacBook Air (M1, 2020), squeezes every drop of processing juice from it, challenging for the best lightweight laptop, and unquestionably one of the best laptops of 2020.

Through Scaleway's website, consumers, companies, and developers can charter the devices for less than a single dollar, although the minimum lease under Apple’s terms is 24 hours. This fee gets a user the fully-fledged Mac mini experience; more, access to a 256GB SSD, using SSH or Virtual Network Computing – VNC is versatile, letting you run your cloud-based Mac mini from Windows, Linux, and macOS-based computers. This should be ample variety for the majority of users.

Scaleway bills its service as a proxy solution for developing, building, and testing applications. Developers who’re working remotely can use the service to co-ordinate team testing on bigger projects, facilitating submission of apps for Apple’s platforms without the need to give each developer a machine at enormous costs.

As a vast majority of companies’ workforces are now remote, the price of a Mac mini quickly accumulates when each employee needs one. Businesses could use this as a temporary solution to the pandemic’s switch to remote working. T3’s rundown of the best Mac mini details will help you get in on the action at the best price point available for personal use. 

Overall, it seems like a brilliant concept, allowing users to get the Apple Mac mini experience at a fraction of the cost. It also empowers people to see how the M1 Macs work, allowing any customer (even Windows loyalists who’re purely curious) to dive into Apple’s OS.

Source: Computerworld