AWS upgrades its Apple Mac stack for extra cloud power

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced the general availability of its fleet of new Mac Minis, powered by the Cupertino giant’s high-performance M2 Pro chips.

With the addition of Apple’s latest models on its platform, AWS EC2 customers can now choose between Intel Core i7 x86 CPUs or two of Apple’s own SoCs: M1 and M2 Pro.

AWS says it envisages these customers building, testing, packaging, and signing applications for Apple hardware including Macs, iPhones and iPads, and Apple Watches.

M2 Pro Macs now available via AWS EC2

AWS has ordered in a fleet of M2-powered Mac Mini models with performance in mind, each featuring a 12-core CPU, 19-core GPU, 32GB of memory, and a 16-core Apple Neural Engine.

They also support up to 10 Gbps of Amazon VPC network bandwidth and up to 8 Gbps of Amazon EBS storage bandwidth thanks to high-speed Thunderbolt connections.

This configuration would cost at least $1,999 for customers directly from the Apple website, making the whole idea of renting a Mac especially attractive. 

It’s unclear why AWS opted to go for the M2 Pro chips rather than the Mac Mini’s cheaper M2 chips, but as far as we can tell, it’s only the Pro versions that are available.

AWS says that developers can currently use macOS Ventura on their rented Macs. A company spokesperson confirmed to TechRadar Pro in an email: 

“AWS continues to enhance its offerings with the latest Apple silicon chips in the Mac lineup, so users can enjoy a broader selection of macOS environments when bringing their workloads to AWS. AWS provides updated EC2 macOS AMIs on a regular basis that include updates to packages owned by AWS and the latest fully-tested macOS version, which will include macOS Sonoma.”

M2 Pro Macs are available to rent from AWS now, but due to Apple’s licensing terms, customers will have to commit to 24-hour periods, starting at $37.44 a day (via The Register). They’ll also only be available in US West (Oregon) and US East (Ohio), but more locations are expected to be added soon.

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