Honey, I shrunk the Mac: Enthusiast makes the Mac mini more mini

Enlarge / Mac Mini mod on top of the original Mac Mini. (credit: Snazzy Labs/YouTube)

At 7.7×7.7×1.4 inches, the Mac mini is a tiny desktop. When the form factor debuted in 2010, it was pretty impressive. But 12 years later, with mini PCs like the Intel NUC measuring 4.6×4.4×1.5 inches, the Mac mini doesn't feel all that mini anymore.

As it turns out, the PC is packing some extra baggage, and by getting rid of some of those parts—like an overly powerful internal power supply unit (PSU)—an enthusiast has been able to rebuild the system with a 28 percent reduction in volume while allegedly keeping the same performance as the original machine.

YouTube channel Snazzy Labs shared its miniature Mac mini mod in a video called "We made the Mac mini ACTUALLY mini!" on Tuesday. The idea stemmed from the M1-based Mac mini's reliance on a dated design built around more power-hungry Intel chips. Part of that design included a large fan. Snazzy Labs removed the blower fan, certain that a fanless Mac mini would work because of the M1's performance in the fanless Macbook Air laptop.

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from Tech – Ars Technica https://ift.tt/8PovYiB