Going smaller - from mini to nano

[braicks987]

Hi,

I really like the buyers guides and have made several builds based on ATX and mATX. Apple released the new Mac mini several months ago. Seeing this beautiful little gem I realized I rather have a small form factor. Let’s call it nano. Don’t care much about expandibility, one or two drives should be enough for this usecase. I also don’t play games, so a cpu/gpu combination from intel will do the job. I do care about the case. It should be really small and beautiful with some USB ports. The build should also drive a 27” monitor at 2K vertical resolution.

What suggestions or experience do you have with the least necessary kexts?

Best regards.

 

[trs96]

This Realan case in Silver looks the most like the original Mac mini from 2005-2009. Minus the optical drive slot. I actually prefer to have the power button in the front. Sorry S.J., that looked better but just isn't practical.

https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...-air-and-mac-mini.263759/page-34#post-1874930

You can install pretty much any mini-ITX motherboard you'd like into it. Add a few SSDs or even an NVME SSD and you've got a nice quiet system that is just the right size.

 

[trs96]

If you do want a true Nano size CustoMac go with a NUC by Intel system. There are many guides by Rehabman here on how to install macOS on those. Use search to find them. The downside is that you get a cheap plastic case rather than brushed Aluminium.