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PC in a Mac Mini. Video.

W

WoofJoe

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 19, 2005
22
0
*I'm going for the weekend so I removed the link and took the video off my .Mac site, there are links to the video posted below*

Video: Kevin Rose of the Screen Savers (G4TechTV) tears apart a Mac Mini and stuffs it with a prototype Via mobo, 1Ghz CPU, etc. running MS Windows. He and co-host marvel at the excellence of such an exercise.

Kevin Rose (on the right) is actually pretty cool and stands up for the Mac quite often. However, this hack is pointless as the Mini already provides, in a more brilliant package, what he's so excited about from board/chip supplier Via.

I can understand Mac, Unix, Linux, whatever geeks. I, for the life of me, will never understand Windows geeks. It would be like hanging posters of the 2001 Buick Century all over your bedroom or hounding your local newscaster for an autograph.
 
1 GHz huh?

So not only will it run hotter (according to the guy) but it will also be slower? You're right, I'll never understand Windows geeks. :rolleyes:
 
Icedog said:
1 GHz huh?

So not only will it run hotter (according to the guy) but it will also be slower? You're right, I'll never understand Windows geeks. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

also, it looks like you lose the optical drive, too. what a wonderful project... :rolleyes:
 
I'm still trying to understand the point of this endeavor, what a utterly stupid project, pull appart a Mini, and make a less powerfull PC, great :rolleyes:
 
Ah, what PC people will do to make it look like they own a Mac.

And they only spent $500 on the case - not bad. Perhaps he's willing to sell the useless electronics that came inside for $30 or so?
 
I can't even spell the word "dumb" after watching that. You can tell the guy on the left is hating seeing this electrical-taped, klunker of a mac mini.

I guess the point was to show everybody that the mac mini will be copied just as readily as all the rest of Apple's products.
 
cool video.

i think many of you missed the point.

Obviously none of you ever had your creativity stimulated as a child... or owned lego.

People modify things because they can. If people never modified things, then nothing would ever get better.

It's actually an innovative project and a credit to the innovation of apple.
 
atomiton said:
It's actually an innovative project and a credit to the innovation of apple.
Click to expand...
If they're using the parts I think they are, then it's a credit to VIA and a slap on the back to the PC fanboys.

Not that I could stand to watch it to find out, of course :)
 
atomiton said:
cool video.

i think many of you missed the point.

Obviously none of you ever had your creativity stimulated as a child... or owned lego.

People modify things because they can. If people never modified things, then nothing would ever get better.

It's actually an innovative project and a credit to the innovation of apple.
Click to expand...
Not true. I've built lots of stuff - and used Legos.

I simply try to build things that improve upon what was there. This isn't even a Windows bash. They added a slower processor, no optical, and a sloppy heat sink. What they created was worse than what they started with.
 
Links if the original goes down. And yes, this is a stupid hack to just prove that I could be done.

http://www.ducktapeandglue.com/tssmacmini.mov
and
http://homepage.mac.com/varmittang/tssmacmini.mov

DTandG is on a cable modem, so it will be a little slower.

EDIT: Also note, I don't think it has a CD drive at all, so what is the point of this hack at all if you can then use it. Plus it looks like windows 98, poor poor hack indeed. I bet that OS isn't even lisenced to run on that computer, HEHE! =P.
 
atomiton said:
cool video.

i think many of you missed the point.

Obviously none of you ever had your creativity stimulated as a child... or owned lego.

People modify things because they can. If people never modified things, then nothing would ever get better.

It's actually an innovative project and a credit to the innovation of apple.
Click to expand...

I understand what you're saying. However, I think it would have been cooler to apply the Via mobo, etc. to a non-Mac case and cite the Mac Mini as inspiration. Heck, why even involve the Mac Mini? There are already several tiny computers that run Windows as it is.

Really, I'm annoyed by the implication (as conveyed in the video) that the Mac Mini is a waste of money because it doesn't run Windows.

As far as your creativity argument, I couldn't disagree more. There is a distinct difference between tinkering and creativity.
 
WoofJoe said:
I understand what you're saying. However, I think it would have been cooler to apply the Via mobo, etc. to a non-Mac case and cite the Mac Mini as inspiration. Heck, why even involve the Mac Mini? There are already several tiny computers that run Windows as it is.

Really, I'm annoyed by the implication (as conveyed in the video) that the Mac Mini is a waste of money because it doesn't run Windows.

As far as your creativity argument, I couldn't disagree more. There is a distinct difference between tinkering and creativity.
Click to expand...

i didn't get that sense at all...i saw rose at macworld and talked to him a bit at the etymotic booth and he was revved up about the mini. in his previous introduction to the mini (i think in was this past monday or tuesday) he showed its innards and did some upgrades. he extolled the virtues of the mini.

the video showed a guy who did something simply because he could. there was no implication about windows vs. the mac, etc. i agree that it might not be creative, but nice tinkering. plus, it's not like he bought the thing himself...he's paid by techtv to do stupid crap like this. it's his job!
 
Im surprised he didnt short circuit the damn thing while he was spitting all over it.You can hear him almost hyperventilate.Ah to be a geek :p
 
No, no, I think this is *great*. And then you just have to add this skin to it, to make it almost perfect:

Is anyone familiar with the Rube-Goldberg challenge?

:D :D :D

wb-mac.jpg
 
Yeah, Rose is a fan of the Mac OS, he's said it a few times. I think he did it just because he could. Unfortunately, Tech Tv/G4 blows now. Remember the Screen Savers with Leo and Patrick?
 
clayton said:
Yeah, Rose is a fan of the Mac OS, he's said it a few times. I think he did it just because he could. Unfortunately, Tech Tv/G4 blows now. Remember the Screen Savers with Leo and Patrick?
Click to expand...

yeah, whatever happened to leo and patrick? i don't watch techtv all that often (can't stand most of their hosts/personalities), but i did like leo and patrick, esp. since leo was a mac guy.
 
WoofJoe said:
I understand what you're saying. However, I think it would have been cooler to apply the Via mobo, etc. to a non-Mac case and cite the Mac Mini as inspiration. Heck, why even involve the Mac Mini? There are already several tiny computers that run Windows as it is.

Really, I'm annoyed by the implication (as conveyed in the video) that the Mac Mini is a waste of money because it doesn't run Windows.
Click to expand...
That's exactly the way I feel. Hacking suff just for the heck of it is cool. Hacking stuff to improve it in some way is even cooler. But tearing apart a mini to put inferior hardware into it just seems too much like a tacit implication that anything containing a PPC is useless.

And yes, it IS inferior hardware--the processor is slower (both in GHz and, I believe, in real-world terms), there's no optical drive, it looks clunkier, and the Mac-only argument doesn't fly since both the original Mini and this hack could run Linux, and the Apple guts would run it better.

I don't have any problem with the Via hardware, though; had this show said "Like the idea of the Mac Mini but want to build one yourself? Let's see if we can using off the shelf parts." and then demonstrated with some sort of micro case, a laptop CD drive, and this chipset, then I'd have said "Hey, neat." I'd still buy the mini, but then it's an interesting challenge instead of a dig.
 
I was watching TSS this morning, and when that came up I started screaming at my TV.... I was confused... then I laughed at when he said it can overheat and lockup... how useful lol.
 
Yeah, so i modded my hand. I took off a few fingers ... now i can't even pick things up! Cool!!! :D

what a ****ing moron ... i like to **** with **** too, but this is ****ing retarded.


peace.
 
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