While Apple has done a rather amazing job with the M series silicon, there’s always room for improvement. That’s where YouTuber Quinn Nelson from Snazzy Labs stepped in and shrunk the Mac Mini by 78%. In doing so, he also replaced the traditional power supply MagSafe. So how did he do it?
Nelson literally cracked open a Mac Mini, took out the components, stripped it to the bare minimum, and put it in a smaller casing. He took out the massive power supply and then removed the fan. Nelson’s logic: the MacBook Air runs just fine without a fan! So there was no point keeping one in the Mac Mini. Removing the fan itself gave him a tighter assembly.
Going further, he swapped the traditional 20-pin power supply with a rather unconventional one. Nelson took a MagSafe 2 connector from a 2015 MacBook and coupled it with a Microsoft Surface Charger to maintain a steady power supply.
Not only that, to make a smaller Mac Mini, you need a smaller casing. That’s where he used 3D printing to create a smaller case. Here too, Nelson borrowed Apple’s cheese grater Mac Pro designed for heat management. As a result, YouTuber shrinks Mac Mini by 78%. As wild as it may sound, it also means Apple literally has a lot of room to shrink the M1 Mac Mini or the future Mac Minis if it wants to.
However, as Quinn Nelson pointed out during the smaller Mac Mini build, it is not popular. So Apple literally kept the massive heat management and casing from the Intel Mac Mini’s time, just changing the internals to accommodate the M1 chip. It shouldn’t affect the performance either because the razer thin M1 MacBook Air is also running the same chip without a fan.
You can also shrink your Mac Mini the same way. CAD files and schematics are available for free here. So will you shrink your Mac Mini or wait for Apple to make a smaller one? If you’re not planning to build one and get a Mac anyway, our Mac buying guide will help you do that too.
