http://www.yankodesign.com/2008/12/02/new-mac-mini-concept-omg-its-not-boxed-shaped/
Thought some people here might find this interesting...
Thought some people here might find this interesting...
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New Mac mini mock-up design
- Thread starter orangeillini14
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No, I don't think either... it's pretty weird... but it's way out there, which is why I decided to share.
Being able to use the Mac Mini in like 4 (or 3) positions means 3 or 4 types of Mac Mini, because of the cool and hot air-stuff (hot air goes up), right?
I like the idea though. Curious what the new Mac Mini will look like..
I like the idea though. Curious what the new Mac Mini will look like..
One thing I see wrong with this design... there's a FW400 port....
If Apple ever decided to design something like this (never) they'd surely leave out the FW400 port.
Wait thats a joke right?
I mean I know its a mock up, but is it so posed to be funny? Or is this guy serious about his design. Being something he would like to see from Apple.
Does he work for microsoft r&d
I mean I know its a mock up, but is it so posed to be funny? Or is this guy serious about his design. Being something he would like to see from Apple.
Does he work for microsoft r&d
Probably, but I'm not American or British so English is not my first language.
But, is it right or wrong?
But, is it right or wrong?
I always wished apple had done something like this:
![g5sphere.jpg]()
I always that would be a neat computer!!!
-iGrant
Thats what what steve would want it to look like. Notice how much higher it is than anything else. In fact it looks like it would be higher than the users own head. It would be the centerpiece of anyones home. Almost like a shrine or object of worship. Being held up their on that great stand for all to see and marvel at
that wasn't harsh at all, I think if that "thing" was released there would be some serious issues as far as people complaining about cosmetics go. And also, I'm pretty sure that it would tip over, the weight doesn't look nearly enough distributed in the back.
I knew when I put the Apple logo on this design, Id get some rough comments Ill try to give some answers if I can.
First of all, Im a huge Apple fan, I love them. And specially Im not trying to copy or suggest a design. Im not saying my design is better than the current Mac Mini design. Ive been using my Mac Mini 7/24 for the last 5-6 years and as a very devoted customer I think I have the right to say what is right or what is wrong for me with the actual design. With the Macworld coming up and the new mac mini rumors around, I thought, why not design my own kind of mac mini? Itd be fun! The whole process took approximately a week, because designing concept computers is not my job -its just for fun and learning- and If Id spent 2-3 months and submitted the new mac mini design after the new one, it would be just cheating Id be very very inspired after I saw the new one. So, yes, itd be much much better If Id spent more than a week on this concept, but its pretty detailed for a weeks job with all the price, size, dimensions, heating, etc. research.
The airflow had some bad comments, people asking me why I didn't put the fans at the bottom of the legs and dissipate the heat with vents from the top. It's a simple physics law, isn't it? But the thing most of these people aren't thinking is, this is a multi-positioned computer. And if you put fans on the legs, it wouldn't be 2 fans. It would be 4 or more fans! Because fans are circular shaped objects, the diameter of the fan should be smaller from the depth of the leg. And because the depth of the legs are so short, the fans would be ridiculously small! So one fan wouldn't be enough, there would be four fans, maybe more. And the most important part is, there are three, maybe more positions you can put a computer like this, and all of them are equally practical for their own purpose, and the airflow design is the best like this for all three positions, believe me I tried a lot
For the port reaching problem, the V shape has the advantage of putting your hand&fingers from both sides and especially seeing them while you plug-in the cables or sticks. If your desk arrangement doesnt allow it, you can lift the front and see the ports. You can not do this with the actual design. With the actual mac mini, while its a great product, I cant see the USB ports when I try to plug a usb device. Id always have to check the direction of the port, the cable, feel the port, try to plug it. And because Im a very tidy person, I dont like the cable mess on or under my table so I hide them, tie them, then if I want to pull the mini a little bit closer, some cables unplug with the tension and I have a problem. With the ports facing front, this accident can not happen.
The packaging is in the video. Its easy to manufacture, minimal and stackable.
I got some advice from some electronic and computer engineer friends and an Apple expert friend during the process. The HDMI port, the extra HDD, power brick inside, all of them are for pushing some limits and trying to be different. They could be done or not, if you like we can discuss it and we all would learn something. But dont do the this is crap, you idiot, this is useless, stupid, pointless design , please. Id love to see more and more concepts about mac mini and learn from them.
The design is not totally Apple looking because I didnt want it to be a total Apple copycat. If I made it boxed shaped, than a lot people say, the same old boring box shaped Apple design, so whats new with you?
Again, its not better than the current design. Its better for me than the current design. I spent lot and lots of hours on this, I wish people didn't spend 3 minutes and judge it without thinking all the details. Its just a concept, a visual expression of my imagination and my experiences with the product. Thanks for all the comments
Ill try to give some answers if I can.First of all, Im a huge Apple fan, I love them. And specially Im not trying to copy or suggest a design. Im not saying my design is better than the current Mac Mini design. Ive been using my Mac Mini 7/24 for the last 5-6 years and as a very devoted customer I think I have the right to say what is right or what is wrong for me with the actual design. With the Macworld coming up and the new mac mini rumors around, I thought, why not design my own kind of mac mini? Itd be fun! The whole process took approximately a week, because designing concept computers is not my job -its just for fun and learning- and If Id spent 2-3 months and submitted the new mac mini design after the new one, it would be just cheating Id be very very inspired after I saw the new one. So, yes, itd be much much better If Id spent more than a week on this concept, but its pretty detailed for a weeks job with all the price, size, dimensions, heating, etc. research.
The airflow had some bad comments, people asking me why I didn't put the fans at the bottom of the legs and dissipate the heat with vents from the top. It's a simple physics law, isn't it? But the thing most of these people aren't thinking is, this is a multi-positioned computer. And if you put fans on the legs, it wouldn't be 2 fans. It would be 4 or more fans! Because fans are circular shaped objects, the diameter of the fan should be smaller from the depth of the leg. And because the depth of the legs are so short, the fans would be ridiculously small! So one fan wouldn't be enough, there would be four fans, maybe more. And the most important part is, there are three, maybe more positions you can put a computer like this, and all of them are equally practical for their own purpose, and the airflow design is the best like this for all three positions, believe me I tried a lot
For the port reaching problem, the V shape has the advantage of putting your hand&fingers from both sides and especially seeing them while you plug-in the cables or sticks. If your desk arrangement doesnt allow it, you can lift the front and see the ports. You can not do this with the actual design. With the actual mac mini, while its a great product, I cant see the USB ports when I try to plug a usb device. Id always have to check the direction of the port, the cable, feel the port, try to plug it. And because Im a very tidy person, I dont like the cable mess on or under my table so I hide them, tie them, then if I want to pull the mini a little bit closer, some cables unplug with the tension and I have a problem. With the ports facing front, this accident can not happen.
The packaging is in the video. Its easy to manufacture, minimal and stackable.
I got some advice from some electronic and computer engineer friends and an Apple expert friend during the process. The HDMI port, the extra HDD, power brick inside, all of them are for pushing some limits and trying to be different. They could be done or not, if you like we can discuss it and we all would learn something. But dont do the this is crap, you idiot, this is useless, stupid, pointless design , please. Id love to see more and more concepts about mac mini and learn from them.
The design is not totally Apple looking because I didnt want it to be a total Apple copycat. If I made it boxed shaped, than a lot people say, the same old boring box shaped Apple design, so whats new with you?
Again, its not better than the current design. Its better for me than the current design. I spent lot and lots of hours on this, I wish people didn't spend 3 minutes and judge it without thinking all the details. Its just a concept, a visual expression of my imagination and my experiences with the product. Thanks for all the comments
I knew when I put the Apple logo on this design, Id get some rough comments
First of all, Im a huge Apple fan, I love them. And specially Im not trying to copy or suggest a design. Im not saying my design is better than the current Mac Mini design. Ive been using my Mac Mini 7/24 for the last 5-6 years and as a very devoted customer I think I have the right to say what is right or what is wrong for me with the actual design. With the Macworld coming up and the new mac mini rumors around, I thought, why not design my own kind of mac mini? Itd be fun! The whole process took approximately a week, because designing concept computers is not my job -its just for fun and learning- and If Id spent 2-3 months and submitted the new mac mini design after the new one, it would be just cheating Id be very very inspired after I saw the new one. So, yes, itd be much much better If Id spent more than a week on this concept, but its pretty detailed for a weeks job with all the price, size, dimensions, heating, etc. research.
The airflow had some bad comments, people asking me why I didn't put the fans at the bottom of the legs and dissipate the heat with vents from the top. It's a simple physics law, isn't it? But the thing most of these people aren't thinking is, this is a multi-positioned computer. And if you put fans on the legs, it wouldn't be 2 fans. It would be 4 or more fans! Because fans are circular shaped objects, the diameter of the fan should be smaller from the depth of the leg. And because the depth of the legs are so short, the fans would be ridiculously small! So one fan wouldn't be enough, there would be four fans, maybe more. And the most important part is, there are three, maybe more positions you can put a computer like this, and all of them are equally practical for their own purpose, and the airflow design is the best like this for all three positions, believe me I tried a lot
For the port reaching problem, the V shape has the advantage of putting your hand&fingers from both sides and especially seeing them while you plug-in the cables or sticks. If your desk arrangement doesnt allow it, you can lift the front and see the ports. You can not do this with the actual design. With the actual mac mini, while its a great product, I cant see the USB ports when I try to plug a usb device. Id always have to check the direction of the port, the cable, feel the port, try to plug it. And because Im a very tidy person, I dont like the cable mess on or under my table so I hide them, tie them, then if I want to pull the mini a little bit closer, some cables unplug with the tension and I have a problem. With the ports facing front, this accident can not happen.
The packaging is in the video. Its easy to manufacture, minimal and stackable.
I got some advice from some electronic and computer engineer friends and an Apple expert friend during the process. The HDMI port, the extra HDD, power brick inside, all of them are for pushing some limits and trying to be different. They could be done or not, if you like we can discuss it and we all would learn something. But dont do the this is crap, you idiot, this is useless, stupid, pointless design , please. Id love to see more and more concepts about mac mini and learn from them.
The design is not totally Apple looking because I didnt want it to be a total Apple copycat. If I made it boxed shaped, than a lot people say, the same old boring box shaped Apple design, so whats new with you?
Again, its not better than the current design. Its better for me than the current design. I spent lot and lots of hours on this, I wish people didn't spend 3 minutes and judge it without thinking all the details. Its just a concept, a visual expression of my imagination and my experiences with the product. Thanks for all the comments
It's true that we can't just dismiss someone's hard effort in creating a potential mock-up of the supposedly updated Mac minis. I did like how you considered the aesthetics in terms of heat flow and potential upgradability.
WE'll have to wait and see how th enew minis stack up to their looks and the specifications! I'm just as eager as everyone to know how much more powerful will they make them.