The current design of the Mac mini is 10 years old and it would be nice if Apple could do something new or different with it. YouTuber Luke Miani didn’t want to wait, so he literally took matters into his own hands.
Miani’s latest creation involves placing the Mac mini in the housing of a Nintendo Wii. While the housings for the two devices are roughly the same, the mod requires a bit more effort than just disassembling both and swapping parts. Miani had to make some adjustments to make the inside of the Mac mini fit into the Wii housing. Most notable is that the disk drive is not working.
The main changes are the use of a smaller fan, a modified power supply and the shortening of the case to accommodate the ports of the Mac mini. He also designed a bracket and used a 3D printer to make it so he can mount the Mac mini inside the Wii case. Miani was also able to use the Wii’s antenna instead of the Mac mini’s to ensure Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity works properly.
After all that, Miani’s Mac Wii didn’t quite meet the usual M1 benchmarks, but the performance drop was only percentage points that most users won’t notice. And fittingly, Miani rewards himself for his hard work by installing the Dolphin Wii emulator and playing Mario Kart. You can watch Miani’s video below.
Modifying the Mac mini isn’t new – you can find several mods on the web. But Miani’s video is a good reminder of how the Mac mini’s small size inspires people to come up with creative uses. And while Apple has no interest in mods, it hopefully sees it as beneficial to the Mac community.
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