YouTuber downsizes Mac Mini by almost 80 percent

Compared to the Macbook and iMac, the Mac Mini really lives up to its name. After all, its design is extremely compact. However, this is not enough for YouTuber Snazzy Labs. He has managed to shrink the smallest of all Macs to 20 percent of its original size.

Design from 2010

When it comes to its Macs, Apple has shown itself to be anything but innovative. Although the Californians equipped their most compact Mac with the brand-new in-house M1 chip last year, the company sticks to old virtues when it comes to design. We have known the look of the mini-PC for 12 years now. Since the 2010 model’s outdated CPU with cooling unit and DVD drive took up a lot of space, today’s Mac Mini could be made much smaller. Apple itself makes that clear. After all, the M1 chip even fits in an ultra-slim iPad Pro.

YouTuber Snazzy Labs makes it clear that the Mac mini’s biggest problem is its unnecessary components. After all, Apple installs a 150 watt power supply as well as a much too large heat sink here. However, since the M1 chip is much more energy-efficient than the Intel CPUs of the predecessors, the Californian company could have cut down on this. This would not only result in a more compact design, but also enable cheaper production. In the end, customers would also save.

Doing without active cooling

As the iPad Pro, which is just under 6 mm thick, clearly shows, an M1 chip does not need active cooling at all. The heat generation of the processor manufactured in the 5 nm process is simply too low for that. Accordingly, Snazzy Labs has taken it upon itself to manufacture a modern Mac mini. For this purpose, it has given the mini PC a makeover, which is based in particular on dispensing with unnecessary components.

First and foremost, the lack of active cooling saves an immense amount of space, which results in a much smaller case. The YouTuber makes it clear that you can do without active cooling without any problems. It is only important that there are ventilation slots for passive cooling of the processor. He emphasizes that this also has no impact on the performance of the M1 chip.

Smaller power supply

It’s not only by doing away with cooling that space can be saved. A lion’s share of the space saved in Snazzy Labs’ reimagined Mac mini is accounted for by the power supply. Instead of the much too powerful power supply, which delivers a whopping 150 power, the YouTuber relies on a power supply that brings less than half the power.

To be more precise, it is the 65 watt charger of the Microsoft Surface. The PC hobbyist installed the final components in a case he produced himself using a 3D printer. The end result is really something to behold. The resulting Mac mini is not only almost 80 percent smaller than the original. It is also virtually silent.

Can there be more?

Meanwhile, hardware experts assume that the Mac mini could be designed even smaller. This would be possible if the tech company opted for an even smaller motherboard. Perhaps Apple will comply with the wishes of many fans and soon announce a completely redesigned Mac mini. After all, industry insiders speculate that a new Mac will already be presented to the public on March 8.

Besides a successor for the 27-inch iMac, a new Mac mini is also a possibility. The only question is whether Apple would not cut its own flesh with this step. After all, the differences between the iPad Pro and a much smaller Mac mini would simply be too small. I rather assume that the Mac mini will be removed from Apple’s lineup at some point in favor of the iPad Pro. We’ll be smarter in a few days.