Microsoft has started selling an ARM-powered Mac Mini-like desktop PC that is designed to help developers build and create apps for Windows on ARM machines. Codenamed Project Volterra, the tech giant unveiled the concept earlier in May this year.
Dubbed Windows Dev Kit 2023, the device is available in eight countries which include Australia, China, Canada, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, China, France and the United States.
According to Microsoft, the Mac-Mini-like machine makes it easier for developers to ‘bring their entire app development process onto one compact device, giving them everything they need to build Windows apps for Arm, on Arm.‘
Powered by the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 Compute Platform and backed by the Qualcomm Neural Processing SDK, Windows Dev Kit 2023 features 32GB of RAM and 512GB internal storage.
On the connectivity side of things, the device has Wi-Fi 6, one ethernet port, three USB-A ports and two USB-C ports along with a Mini Display Port. Users can also connect up to three external monitors including two 4K 60Hz monitors.
The machine also comes with a neural processing unit (NPU) that enables developers to run hardware-accelerated AI-based tasks like machine learning workloads. With Windows 11, Microsoft is focusing on AI with features like Voice Focus, which works on removing background noise without overloading the CPU or the GPU.
Microsoft also said that the Windows Dev Kit 2023 will have access to native versions of apps such as Microsoft Teams, Edge, Office, and OneDrive Sync. The tech giant is also working on launching a full toolchain of native ARM apps like an improved version of .NET 7, with the native version of Visual Studio 2022 17.4 already offering improved performance. With Windows Dev Kit 2023, Microsoft aims to improve Windows app performance on ARM machines,
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