Apple said Wednesday that it will soon ask developers who participated in the Quick Start Universal App Program to return their Developer Transition Kit, a standard mini Mac powered by the A12Z Bionic system-on-chip.
The company emailed developers that it will “soon return” the DTK, a hardware set to prepare app makers for the release of Apple Silicon Macs. spread.
“Now that the MacBook Air, Mac mini, and MacBook Pro with M1 power are available, you’ll soon be returning the Developer Transition Kit (DTK) that was sent to you as part of the program,” Apple says.
Embellished with A12Z, the Mac mini was equipped with 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, two USB-C ports, two USB 3.0 ports, HDMI 2.0 and Gigabit Ethernet, captures designed to mimic the first M1 Mac computers . It came packed with a beta version of macOS Big Sur and Xcode 12.
Developers admitted to the Quick Start Universal App Program were charged a $ 500 fee for access to the DTK. Apple isn’t refunding the $ 500, though it does offer a $ 200 promotional code that can be used toward the purchase of a new 13-equipped MacBook Pro, MacBook Air or Mac mini equipped with an M1 chip. Codes will be issued upon receipt of returned DTKn and must be returned by May 31, 2021.
Some app makers are not happy with Apple’s compensation structure. As Steve Troughton-Smith said, $ 200 doesn’t cover a third of the cost of Apple’s cheapest M1 Mac, the $ 700 Mac mini.
TWO DOLLARS? That won’t even go a third of the way to the cheapest M1 Mac. It’s just about the 4 months the DTK was used out of the 12 month lease you paid
– Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) February 3, 2021
Apple says developers can expect to be notified in the next “few weeks” with instructions on how to return the test box.