The brain behind the iPhone Standby Mode Dock, the Macintosh Studio iPad Dock, and the Mac Mini Laptop is back with another super cool creation for the Mac mini. After observing that many people have been bringing their M4-powered Mac minis out and about—which required lugging around a monitor, keyboard, and mouse—Scott came up with a solution that kind of turns the Mac mini into a laptop of sorts, a Portable Mac mini M4.
He integrated a 12.3-inch touchscreen stretch bar LCD travel display with a custom-painted frame to an Apple keyboard using torque-adjustable hinges, along with a custom-designed and 3D-printed case. The result is a pretty avant-garde piece of gadgetry—much like a typewriter with a screen, if typewriters existed in a cyberpunk world. OK, the design isn’t exactly cyberpunk; it’s Scott’s usual Apple-esque design: clean and minimalist.
With the Portable Mac mini M4, he can now work on his scripts for his videos in most coffee shops without lugging a separate monitor and keyboard, in addition to the Mac mini. Those things are now in one neat package, with the Mac mini sliding into the case and secured with white Velcro.
However, it still requires finding a coffee shop with a seat that has a free-to-use outlet since it does not have a battery. Also, you’ll still need a mouse. But that’s already two (or three?) fewer things to carry if he wants to work on the go with the Mac mini.
As always, it’s a super cool project, most suited for folks with a large 3D printer like the Bambu Lab H2D. However, Scott also has a version that breaks down the print for smaller 3D printers. Nice.
