Earn · Mac mini FAQ
How much can a Mac mini earn? Start with honesty, then capacity.
We will not publish a fake $/hour rate card. What we can say: Remotion and encode jobs finish fast enough on Apple Silicon that idle minis are useful capacity, electricity is cents, and aspirational “hundreds per month” is waitlist messaging for meaningful utilization once public host access opens.
What we measured (not earnings)
| Job | Output | M2 Max | M1 Silver1 | M1 Silver2 | CF live |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LongKinetic3m | 3:00 (5400 f) | 111.5 s | 133.7 s | 145.6 s | 2175.3 s |
| LongKinetic20m | 20:00 (36000 f) | 679.5 s | - | - | 14502 s PROJECTED |
LongKinetic20m CF column is PROJECTED (×20/3 from measured 3-minute CF live). Method: benchmark methodology.
| Job | Wall | Abs avg | Abs Wh | Elec @ $0.1883/kWh |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HeavyMotion | 32.62 s | 33.1 W | 0.287 Wh | ~$0.000054 |
| LongKinetic3m | 111.5 s | 28.6 W | 0.876 Wh | ~$0.000165 |
| LongKinetic20m | 679.5 s | 28.7 W | 5.403 Wh | ~$0.00102 |
M2 Max SoC package samples (ABS, not idle-subtracted). Canonical: power bakeoff.
| Step | M2 Max wall | Docker CF-shape | CF $ (rate-card) |
|---|---|---|---|
| VideoToolbox H.264 8 Mbps (20 min src) | 95.1 s | N/A on CF Linux | - |
| libx264 medium CRF23 | 102.8 s | 2371.1 s | ~$0.0474 |
Canonical: VideoToolbox vs cloud encode.
Drivers of future payouts: hours available, match rate, job mix, payout policy when Connect is public. Details: earnings expectations.
Host waitlist
Early host access updates. Hundreds/month is waitlist positioning, not a live payout guarantee.