MiniMax M3.1 Flash vs Inkling
MiniMax M3.1 Flash took 23 min 37 s and $0.095 at list price, Inkling took 8 min 30 s and $0.21 at list price. MiniMax M3.1 Flash took 2.8× as long, and Inkling cost 2.2× as much.
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
MiniMax · $0.60/M out · 550 HN pts
Inkling
Thinking Machines · $4.05/M out · free route · 4 HN pts
Pelican
Generate an SVG of a pelican riding a bicycle
Watch
Draw a mechanical wristwatch that shows the current local time, with a sweeping seconds hand and a date window. Make it look expensive.
Landing
Build the landing page for Lumen Cycles, a Copenhagen workshop that builds custom cargo bikes to order. Make it look like a real brand you would trust with 4,000 euros.
Breakout
Make a Breakout game I can play right now with the keyboard or the mouse. Give it several levels, a score and some juice.
Logo
Design a logo for Night Heron, an independent bookshop that only opens after dark.
About
Write the opening of the About us page for Patchbay, a three-person studio in Rotterdam that repairs vintage synthesizers. About 150 words.
Patchbay is a three-person studio in Rotterdam dedicated to bringing vintage synthesizers back to life. We repair analog and digital instruments that shaped the sound of music, from classic drum machines and polyphonic synths to quirky, characterful machines that rarely leave a musician’s side. Our work combines technical knowledge with respect for each instrument’s history, because a synth is more than a circuit board: it carries the decisions, compromises, and personality of its original design.
We diagnose faults, restore unreliable voices, and carefully service aging components without erasing the character that made an instrument worth keeping. Whether a machine has been silent for years or simply needs a thoughtful tune-up, we treat every repair as a careful act of restoration.
Based in Rotterdam, Patchbay works with musicians, studios, collectors, and anyone who believes electronic instruments deserve another chapter. We restore them to sound as they should, preserving the details that make each one unique.
Patchbay is a three-person repair studio in Rotterdam dedicated to vintage synthesizers. We work on analog circuits, replace failing capacitors and resistors, calibrate unstable oscillators, and restore instruments that have been silent for years. Our bench sees early Japanese mono synths, European string machines, American polys, and large modular systems. We treat each repair as a specific problem rather than a routine job, because these machines were built differently and fail differently. The studio grew out of our own need for careful, local repairs. Over time, musicians, collectors, and producers across the Netherlands started bringing us gear they could not trust elsewhere. We open every case with the same approach: diagnose the fault properly, use appropriate parts, and test the result thoroughly. We do not apply quick fixes or ignore underlying issues. Whether your synthesizer suffers from tuning drift, dead voices, noisy outputs, or an unknown electrical fault, we are in Rotterdam to find the cause and return it to reliable working condition.
Specs and numbers
| MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Inkling | |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | MiniMax | Thinking Machines |
| Made in | China | US |
| Released | 19 Oct 2026 | 17 Jul 2026 |
| Price in, per M tokens | $0.15 | free route (list $1.00/M) |
| Price out, per M tokens | $0.60 | free route (list $4.05/M) |
| Context | 1,048,576 tokens | 524,288 tokens |
| Weights | open | open |
| Hacker News points | 550 | 4 |
| Time for the six prompts | 23 min 37 s | 8 min 30 s |
| List price of the six prompts | $0.095 | $0.21 |
MiniMax M3.1 Flash was cheaper: $0.11 less at list price, and less on each of the 6 prompts. Inkling was faster: 15 min 7 s less in total, and faster on each of the 6 prompts.
In the recording, both Breakout games play.
Rebuild this screen experiment: MiniMax M3.1 Flash's rebuild matched the screenshot at 78%, Inkling's 51%. Tea Garden experiment: MiniMax M3.1 Flash's game passed 5 of 5 checks, Inkling's 5 of 5.