Scaleway Launches Mac Mini Cloud Instances - Apple Silicon in the Cloud

Scaleway Launches Mac Mini Instances Powered by Apple M1

Scaleway, a cloud hosting provider, has announced the availability of a new instance type today. These instances utilize Apple’s M1 chip within Mac minis.

Pricing and Availability

The cost for these new instances is set at €0.10 per hour, which translates to approximately $0.12 based on current exchange rates. A minimum usage commitment of 24 hours is required.

Currently, these Mac mini instances are exclusively hosted within Scaleway’s DC4 data center, located in Paris. This facility is a repurposed underground nuclear fallout shelter.

Instance Specifications

Upon initiating a Mac mini instance through the console, users gain access to a base configuration. This includes 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, and the macOS Big Sur operating system.

The instances are powered by Apple’s first Arm-based chip, the M1, delivering enhanced performance and efficiency.

Access and Connectivity

Users can connect to the instance via VNC, providing access to the full desktop environment for a standard Mac experience.

Alternatively, a direct SSH connection is available for those who only require a command-line interface.

Comparison with Competitors

Scaleway is not the first to offer Mac mini instances. Amazon Web Services (AWS) recently introduced its own offering, but these rely on Intel i7 CPUs and are priced at $1.083 per hour, or $26 for a 24-hour period.

AWS is expected to introduce M1 mini instances in the future, though a specific timeline has not been announced.

Alternative Mac Hosting Providers

Several specialized Mac-focused hosting companies exist, including MacStadium, MacinCloud, MacWeb, and Mac Mini Vault.

Currently, an M1-powered Mac mini with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage costs $109 or €109 per month on MacStadium. This is comparatively more expensive than Scaleway’s offering.

Maintaining a Mac Mini instance for 30 days on Scaleway amounts to €72 (or approximately $87 at today’s rate).

Use Cases for Mac Servers

Mac servers are particularly useful for development tasks, especially in the realm of continuous integration and delivery.

Developing applications for iOS necessitates the use of a Mac environment, as building these apps is not possible on servers running other operating systems like Ubuntu.