News The cheapest Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite PC is its mini desktop Dev Kit, and its available for preorder now

[Admin]

Qualcomm has released a Mini PC Dev Kit for its highest-end Snapdragon X Elite chips, which happens to undercut the pricing of even some Snapdragon X Plus laptops.

The cheapest Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite PC is its mini desktop Dev Kit, and its available for preorder now : Read more

 

[usertests]

Fire sale it down to $250 and I'm game. But nah I'd probably use that $250 for something else.

 

[bit_user]

Fire sale it down to $250 and I'm game. But nah I'd probably use that $250 for something else.

I could see paying more than that for a used one off ebay, but Linux support for it would have to be solid.

 

[usertests]

I could see paying more than that for a used one off ebay, but Linux support for it would have to be solid.

It sounded like Qualcomm was committed to Linux support, but it wasn't remotely ready by launch:

https://www.phoronix.com/news/ASUS-Vivbook-S-15-Elite-X-Linux

 

[Notton]

I don't get it, do they want devs to buy it or not?
You can buy a Minisforum UM890 Pro (R9 8945HS, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD) for $650.

 

[user7007]

I don't get it, do they want devs to buy it or not?
You can buy a Minisforum UM890 Pro (R9 8945HS, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD) for $650.

That's what I was thinking too. It's more than I'd spend on one. You might as well just get a laptop.

 

[Quirkz]

I don't get it, do they want devs to buy it or not?
You can buy a Minisforum UM890 Pro (R9 8945HS, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD) for $650.

When they say 'dev machine', they don't mean 'a machine for developers', they mean 'a machine to target development.'

You don't buy this as your primary machine, you buy this because you want to develop windows ARM apps.
In which case, it's the cheapest way to get the highest spec version with plenty of RAM to run your development and testing on.

 

[Quirkz]

I could see paying more than that for a used one off ebay, but Linux support for it would have to be solid.

my thought too. With solid linux support, it becomes an amazing little machine to throw in a cupboard, hardly using any power or generating heat, acting as quite a powerful home server.

But only if that linux support was solid.
As it stands, I'd just get one of those excellent AMD minis or a mac mini for the role.

 

[bit_user]

I don't get it, do they want devs to buy it or not?

Development kits often cost far more than this. People who really need them will easily pay this price.

I think their goal is to make it affordable, but not to try and make it a high-volume product. Given that it's not intended as a mass market product, they aren't pricing it quite like one, as they don't want to take a loss on it.

That's what I was thinking too. It's more than I'd spend on one. You might as well just get a laptop.

The same argument could be made not to buy a Mac Mini, yet that's still a thing.

In each case, the non-laptop version can afford to have a bigger thermal solution and therefore offer better performance than a laptop.

 

[user7007]

When they say 'dev machine', they don't mean 'a machine for developers', they mean 'a machine to target development.'

You don't buy this as your primary machine, you buy this because you want to develop windows ARM apps.
In which case, it's the cheapest way to get the highest spec version with plenty of RAM to run your development and testing on.

my issue is for indy or small devs it's just an added expense.

 

[Quirkz]

my issue is for indy or small devs it's just an added expense.

It's not an added expense... it's a business expense.
Just like if you want to develop apps for an ipad, you buy an ipad.

If this seems like it's an added expense to you, then you're not the target market. If you were, you'd be quite happy paying for the cheapest development environment with solid performance/ram for ARM for windows.