Smallest mac mini: mini itx in mac mini case?

[DarfWeder]

Yes,

the goal: smallest mac possible. Would it be possible to build a mini itx mainboard into an apple mac mini case??? I've seen a build from Karacho (well, not SEEN but read about it) and don't like the case. It will have to go into a cabinet with a touchscreen in front of it or on top of it... I just don't like the apple prices, it's like 500 usd for a 2nd hand [email protected] or so... you can almost buy a new one for that... sheesh!

 

[Gordo74]

It has been done, but the modding takes time and effort and the cost will bring you near what a Mac Mini would cost. There are plenty of Mini-ITX cases out there which are Mac-Mini sized nearly. Google it. Any will work.

 

[karacho]

I don't think so. Perhaps this is the right one for you?
-> http://www.mini-box.com/M350-universal- ... -enclosure
-> http://www.cartft.com/de/catalog/il/1058

 

[elminster]

I've always liked the Antec ISK-110, and it can take 2 2.5" disks.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129185

 

[DarfWeder]

It has been done, but the modding takes time and effort and the cost will bring you near what a Mac Mini would cost. There are plenty of Mini-ITX cases out there which are Mac-Mini sized nearly. Google it. Any will work.

Thanks for the suggestion, I suspect you work for Apple but you are not wrong.

Personally I like the following case better. Way more stylish than the others suggested, but it also has NO DVD rom reader but I have an external one from my Probook so I'm good.
I want it to be at least half way jaw dropping. This seems to be a good candidate.

Any suggestions on the mobo? Intel or Gigabyte?

I'm looking at
- Intel DH61DLB3 / DH67CFB3
- Asus P8H61 / P8H67 / P8H77
- Gigabyte GA-H61N-USB3 or
- MSI H61I-E35

Any recommendations?

 

[thierry37]

Your case has external power supply?
Really thin ! Nice one.
Some links? or the name of manufacturer?

For the mother board, I'm not expert (still looking at my pieces for a first build),
but the GA-H61N is part of the recommended build from TonyMac. http://tonymacx86.blogspot.co.at/search/label/CustoMac
That's the one I'm taking.

 

[Going Bald]

Did you look at this build? viewtopic.php?f=54&t=63054

You could go with any of the itx boards if you didn't like the Zotac, and the case doesn't look much bigger than the mac mini case.

 

[DarfWeder]

Your case has external power supply?
Really thin ! Nice one.
Some links? or the name of manufacturer?

For the mother board, I'm not expert (still looking at my pieces for a first build),
but the GA-H61N is part of the recommended build from TonyMac. http://tonymacx86.blogspot.co.at/search/label/CustoMac
That's the one I'm taking.

Yes there is an external power supply. It needs to be bought separately. It costs about 40 euro if you know what to look for. This looks like how Apple does it with the Mac Mini.

The case itself is a Lian Li PC-Q05A or B (a=aluminum and b=black). Unfortunately I can't get hold of one now (my wife would disagree there) but there seems to be a shipment on the way arriving Jul/Aug. So let's hope. With a little bit of tooling I could get a nice white Apple logo with a smile to go on the front, there's two holes there beckoning to be used for something

As I have a few working LCD and LED screens lying around I am attracted to a motherboard with an LVDS header. That said, it doesn't HAVE to be that board, as I can also imagine this piece of kit driving a flatscreen TV... in HD... via HDMI... so...

That said the motherboard (Intel DH61AG) with Intel Core i3-2120, 4GB DDR3 and the case with power supply will already set you back near 350 euro. Add 500GB hdd or so for around 75 euro and we're at 425. Official Lion OS etc. I mean we're really and already in Mac Mini territory. Plus we're not 100% sure this will work on MAC OS X.
And then this is the H61 chipset, Sandy Bridge... so already phasing out... would rather go for a H77 chipset with Ivy Bridge and Mountain Lion.
Gigabyte seems to try to get a board on the market similar to the intel one but it has a Q type chipset normally only for companies... so most likely hard to get hold of as a normal person as they normally only sell those to companies...

Oh well... Mac Mini then. Case closed Anyone wants a spare HP Probook screen?

 

[thierry37]

Oh well... Mac Mini then. Case closed Anyone wants a spare HP Probook screen?

But you'll have to wait to get the 2012 model (if it comes..) for Ivy, HD4000, etc...

 

[DarfWeder]

I'm still looking for that case as the Lian Li will not be in stock for a while here (Germany).

I came across this case, which sort of reminds me of my little friends the Stormtroopers in Star Wars....

Further I think I will go for the Intel DQ77KB motherboard, someone mentioned this to be the new kid on the block. And it is Ivy Bridge compatible.

Only thing is: I can only run a Sandy Bridge I3-2105 or i3-2125 on it, as there are no HD3000 compatible Ivy Bridge CPUs. Sigh. Just wondering if ML will end this and supports HD4000 at least.

May stick in a mini PCIe Intel SSD... 60GB should be sufficient for the little guy really, or a hybrid Toshiba with 8GB SSD and 500 or 750GB hdd... still think I better centralize that storage in some way (NAS or something). Or build my own timecapsule.

In any case I like this little white fellar down here. Question really (only) is whether the HDMI on the board will work so I can use it on the TV...???