How to make your own portable Mac Mini

Since its nascence, Apple’s Macintosh has taken the world by storm, and making a portable Mac Mini reminiscent of the very first Macintosh computer iterations is one of those cool DIY projects absolutely worth doing.

As it happens, Scott Yu-Jan has created something like that before by putting an iPad dock on top of a Macintosh Studio. However, as this setup wasn’t exactly portable, he decided to improve on the concept, describing the entire process in his YouTube video last year.

Specifically, Yu-Jan’s build revolves around a 3D-printed enclosure wrapping around the Mac Mini, with a 20,800 mAh power bank that can fuel the computer for over three hours. It has a handle on top and its main screen is a hooked-up iPad Mini, which can be easily popped out.

The tools required for this project include a 3D printer, white PLA filament, a keyboard with custom keycaps, a mouse, an AC power bank, and an edge scraper tool. He’s listed all the other tools used for his projects here.

Building a portable Mac Mini

He started with the 3D design of the Macintosh Mini (which you’ll have to print upside down), increasing the angle of the iPad Mini from the previous design “because the Macintosh Mini is going to be shorter” and it’s going to provide a more comfortable viewing angle. 

Furthermore, as there’s “no chin anymore, (…) there isn’t really a need for an ejection button,” so he cut a hole into the bottom to easily push out the iPad Mini. He made the drawer’s size significantly taller, as well as fixed a lot of internal geometry from the original model.

Then, he tweaked the bottom to wrap around the Mac Mini to make it more portable and also increased the “drawer size just a little bit for all the battery stuff.” The next step was installing the power bank (powering the Mac Mini while charging the iPad Mini) with an outlet on the side instead of the back.

How it performs

Upon testing, Yu-Jan discovered that his project performed well – after three hours of 4K video editing in a coffee shop, the battery was at 46%. However, he believes that this isn’t a terribly practical solution considering its clunky size and the battery’s weight of almost 7 lbs (3kg).

Nonetheless, he pointed out that the “Macintosh Studio and the Macintosh Mini were decent solutions for an iPad Mini dock at your desk,” adding that they “work great as external monitors while keeping your iPad Mini charged.”

Meanwhile, if you’re feeling up to it to build some other cool things using your own capable hands, you can put them to use for a cool kombucha bottle-based plasma tube, a modern take on Etch-A-Sketch for your kids, a gorgeous laser harp, $100 light therapy gear, or a GPS receiver.