MiniMax M3.1 Flash vs Mistral Large 4
MiniMax M3.1 Flash took 23 min 37 s and $0.095 at list price, Mistral Large 4 took 51 min 22 s and $0.61 at list price. Mistral Large 4 took 2.2× as long and cost 6.5× as much.
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
MiniMax · $0.60/M out · 550 HN pts
Mistral Large 4
Mistral · $2.10/M out · 4,680 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 sits in a former warehouse on Rotterdam's northern edge, where the Maas meets the industrial harbour. Three of us work here—no more, no less—surrounded by oscilloscopes, desoldering stations, and the persistent hum of transformers. We repair vintage synthesizers. That is the whole business.
We are not a museum, and we are not a factory. Every Minimoog, ARP 2600, or Juno that crosses our bench receives the same stubborn attention: traced schematics, replaced capacitors, calibrated voltages, hours spent listening for the note that was never quite right. The machines arrive broken, silent, forgotten. They leave singing.
Rotterdam built its reputation on moving heavy things and keeping them moving. We apply the same pragmatism to circuits that predate us by forty years. If it made sound once, it can make sound again. That is the promise we keep, solder joint by solder joint.
Specs and numbers
| MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Mistral Large 4 | |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | MiniMax | Mistral |
| Made in | China | France |
| Released | 19 Oct 2026 | 6 Oct 2026 |
| Price in, per M tokens | $0.15 | $0.70 |
| Price out, per M tokens | $0.60 | $2.10 |
| Context | 1,048,576 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens |
| Weights | open | open |
| Hacker News points | 550 | 4,680 |
| Time for the six prompts | 23 min 37 s | 51 min 22 s |
| List price of the six prompts | $0.095 | $0.61 |
MiniMax M3.1 Flash was cheaper: $0.52 less at list price, and less on each of the 6 prompts. MiniMax M3.1 Flash was faster: 27 min 45 s less in total, and faster on 3 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%, Mistral Large 4's 46%. Tea Garden experiment: MiniMax M3.1 Flash's game passed 5 of 5 checks, Mistral Large 4's 2 of 5.