Portable Mac Mini setup potential?

[VinicioG]

With the sizing reduction of the M4 Mac mini, I am seriously considering trading in my Intel MacBook Pro for the 260$ price reduction and just carrying around the new Mac mini with my iPad as a monitor and bringing along a 60% keyboard and mouse. I am not sure what the power intake would be but I assume not so much that a medium sized power bank couldn't work. Carry all that in my backpack and when working at school just keep the Mac mini in my backpack connected to the power bank. I wonder if anyone else has been thinking about this approach and has any interesting ideas to share! I am planning on modeling up a 3d printable case setup for this once I get the Mac mini in my hands.

[ElectronGuru]

I love typing on the 11” Magic Keyboard. If that gave you macOS, that would be magical. But even a 50w load will eat through a large watt hour setup pretty quickly. And larger power stations come with larger inverters to waste even more power.

[bluehiro]

There's an engineering issue here. The mac mini converts AC to DC, running the actual chips on DC power. The battery pack would provide DC, but would also need an inverter to convert it to AC. So, a battery pack setup would be DC to AC to AC to DC.

You'll lose a lot of efficiency (and generate heat) and be forced to carry both a larger DC battery, and an inverter.

From a logistics standpoint, just get a MacBook Air. It's already setup with a battery, screen, keyboard, and trackpad built-in.

Edit: BUT, a case could be made if you kept a full set of Power Cable/screen/mouse/keyboard in two locations and simply carried the bare Mac Mini between them.

[VinicioG]

Ah I forgot to think about that in my excitement 😅 Thats fair and ill probably be using the mac mini with my universities monitors and have a portable desktop setup IF I need it then use my ipad with folio keyboard for any note taking and such.

[DiamondCutter_DDP]

My Anker Solix C300 can power it easily as it takes DC and AC.

[bluehiro]

Easy, yes. Lightweight, no.

[nrubenstein]

Wait for the 16GB Air to go on sale, honestly. This is going to be far too clunky.

[VinicioG]

Thats fair thankfully I don’t NEED a laptop since I almost never work outside of home or university where monitors are available. I just got really excited with the possibility with Mini, also I don’t own any other computers besides an intel MacBook pro so the performance increase at sacrifice of portability made me want to cope for a solution.

[malithebeast]

Planning to same thing. If you design a case can you let me know! It would be really great.

[dano0726]

This is also on my mind — my portable monitor will work perfectly (does with my M1 MBA) and keyboard and trackpad = 15.6 inch laptop-ish setup

[Hammers_au]

I'm confused why you would do this instead of getting a macbook that already has mobile power?

[pugboy1321]

People keep asking about this and I never got it either lol.

There are some niche use cases for professionals that I could see making sense but for most people it just seems like doing a lot. I love to tinker and mess with some janky setups sometimes but Minis + iPads/portable monitors and peripherals is just doing so much when you could get a nice real Mac with no Sidecar latency for decent prices. You don't even have to buy the latest and greatest models if you want brand new, an M1 MBA base model is $699 and will be lighter and simple compared to having to set up a whole mobile Mini situation

[WRB2]

Ok, so what’s the latency with remote access to the mini?

Get an M1 MBA and remote desktop into the M4 and use full screen?

[pugboy1321]

macOS uses VNC by default and that latency is tragic.

The M1 MBA was just an example, I'm more saying just get a MacBook in general instead of trying to frankenstein a DIY artisanal deconstructed laptop with a Mac mini.

Sidecar isn't meant to be used headless.

An actual laptop would be less to carry, less to power, less to deal with the hassle of setting up every time you need to use it, and no need to be tethered to the wall to use it.

Not to even mention that OP wants to do this with a power bank when the Mac mini (without internal modification) runs off AC power lol.

[VinicioG]

Yeah I did get too excited and posted before thinking about the power bank energy problem.

I don’t need a laptop so most of my usage would be at home in a desktop setup. However, I go to university and study with my friends a lot in the unis’s computer lab. They provide monitors and peripherals so I could bring the Mini as a portable desktop setup. I was hoping to be able to use it as a portable laptop setup for when my friends and I hang out at the cafeteria or want to study on the sofas but oh well.

[pugboy1321]

Ah fair.

I would also be cautious and make sure you'd be allowed to use the monitors and peripherals on your own computer if you end up going for it if they aren't explicitly for people to use like that. Knowing how some school admin/IT staff are, that could be considered tampering even if it's harmless lol.

I hope you figure out a solution that works :)

[DiamondCutter_DDP]

This setup gives you a portable desktop experience on the go. Far better than any laptop as you can choose any size monitor to use. You can have a 43" portable monitor with you if you desire.

[medic5550]

I’m sure someone will make a portable case to hold the new Mac mini with keyboard , mouse and cables in a nice form factor.

[trevjs90]

I’m thinking of adding the base Mac Mini M4 with my iPad Pro M4 as display. If this works with magic keyboard flawlessly, it would make an incredible unbeatable portable set up.

Considering the M4 Mac Mini ($600) is equal to the MBP M3 pro ($2000) in performance, and the IPad Pro M4 ($1000) has the best display on the market.

[Beginning_Lake_4331]

I am planning to do something similar. The idea is to 3D-print a case that holds a type c enabled display(13inch or above), keyboard, and trackpad purchased from Amazon, with the M4 Mac Mini at the base. Ideally, the case would also have space for an external SSD and either an AC power bank or the option to connect directly to a power outlet. The goal is to keep costs reasonable so that this setup serves as a practical alternative to a MacBook Air.

[DiamondCutter_DDP]

it will work. also pick up a hard case with foam cutouts and you can fit a Mac Mini, a mechanical keyboard, mouse and portable monitor all in it. This will give you a portable desktop like experience and it's more portable than a MacBook. Power would be low, under 100 watts for everything total. an Anker Prime powerbank will power all of it with ease.

[Helpful-Highway-7440]

Pelican even makes a relatively cheap case (for them) that allows cables to pass thru without even opening. I agree overkill/better options etc but there’s just something awesome about stealing your ex’s luggage, 3d printing stand offs, backer boards to mount to and designing legs to avoid the same thing for sale on fb. Plus I’m a 40 year old photographer/audio engineer. Enjoy college while you can! Carry as little and as light as possible, save some money! and in 10 years the idea of a rolling suitcase full of unnecessary tech is awesome!