Apple's transition from Intel chips to Apple Silicon was one of the biggest Mac changes in years. To make this process as seamless as possible for users, Apple created a custom Mac mini for developers so that they could get their macOS apps ready to support Apple's new ARM-based system.

Developers had to pay $500 to lease these Developer Transition Kit desktop Macs in 2020. When Apple announced them at last year's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), it said that the lease would last for one year. However, Apple has requested them be returned early---and it's offering devs $200 credit for doing so.

Apple's Developer Transition Kit Macs

The DTK Macs weren't a pre-release, early version of the M1 Mac mini that shipped at the end of 2020. Boasting Apple's A12Z Bionic chip, which is usually found in the fourth generation 2020 iPad Pro, it was instead more of a macOS-running iPad in the body of a Mac mini.

"It's not a basis on which to judge future Macs ... but it gives you a sense of what our Silicon team can do when they're not even trying---and they're going to be trying," Apple's VP of Software Engineering Craig Federighi explained in an interview with Daring Fireball's John Gruber following WWDC.

Related: The New Apple Mac Mini M1: Sometimes Bigger Isn’t Better

In an email, published by 9to5Mac, that Apple sent to developers who had leased a DTK Mac, it wrote that:

"Now that the new MacBook Air, Mac mini, and MacBook Pro powered by M1 are available, it'll soon be time to return the Developer Transition Kit (DTK) that was sent to you as part of the program. Please locate the original packaging for use in returning the DTK. We'll email you in a few weeks with instructions for returning the DTK."

The basic model Mac mini with Apple's M1 chip starts at $699. If developers opt to use their $200 credit to buy one, that means that they can pick up an M1 Mac mini for the same price they paid for the DTK Mac.

Preparing the Next Generation of Mac Apps

Not every developer is going to be pleased at Apple asking for its DTK Macs back ahead of time, of course. While developers knew going in that this was a temporary lease, a one-year lease should've taken them to June---not February.

Nonetheless, provided they used it correctly it should have helped achieve the task it was designed for: namely, to help prepare the first generation of Apple Silicon apps for macOS. Developers should now be reaping the rewards.