Intrepid DIY project turns the new Mac mini into a retro Power Mac M4 Cube

The M4 Mac mini might have earned plaudits for its pleasingly petite redesign, but one owner has decided to reverse that decision and set the machine up in a large clear case in the style of a Power Mac G4 Cube.

Posted on Reddit (with disappointingly little accompanying explanation) by a friend of the DIYer, the project is simple but striking. The Mac mini has been placed in a thick plastic case which extends down below the device as a hollow stand, raising it up to more than twice its normal height. Less convenient on the desktop, perhaps, but cool-looking in a retro vibe.

The case has one large cutout for the back ports and smaller individual cutouts for the ports at the front, so it seems perfectly usable. But commenters on the thread are less convinced about the thermal efficiency of the mod, because of the way the stand section of the case has been designed: there’s a nice big aperture at the back, but no openings in the side or front panels. As Apple explains on its Mac mini page, the machine takes in cool air from the front (through the vents in its base), then expels hot air out of the back. The way the modified “M4 Cube” is set up, therefore, would appear to inhibit one-half of its cooling operation.

Then again, the raised profile might counteract that problem. The stand means there’s open air below the Mac mini, in a way that wouldn’t ordinarily be the case when it’s placed on a desk; even if this air is circulated via the back only, this arrangement could still be as thermally efficient as normal use. At any rate, this isn’t a commercial product (at least not yet… perhaps the Reddit post is guerrilla marketing for a product that will launch in due course) so the only risk being taken is with the DIYer’s own Mac.