What material is the mac mini made of?

[TLOP]

Hey All,

This is a strange question but it's been bugging me for a while now and i've finally taken the time to simply ask. Does anyone know what material the mac mini is made of? Is it aluminum of some sort? I am very curious and interested.

If anyone knows about the materials to use other apple products please share as well. I'm quite intrigued. I genuinely appreciate anyone who takes the time to reply to this. You guys are awesome.

Cheers.

 

[Altis]

The 2014 is made of broken dreams and distant cries longing for quad-core CPUs.

The body is made of aluminum though like the rest of the Mac/MacBook lineup. It's mostly for being fairly lightweight, strong (although it dents/bends fairly easily, having a single milled chassis is strong), aesthetic appeal/refinement, heat dissipation (very efficiently allows heat to dissipate from the internals), and environmental reasons (very easily recycled, mined).

 

[TLOP]

Altis, you are awesome. This is exactly what I was looking for.

Do you know anything about the aesthetic appeal/refinement process? If we take an aluminum blank, mill it into the same rounded rectangular shape, what follows to get that same look of material?

 

[Fancuku]

I would imagine that they are powder coated after they have been machined.

 

[TLOP]

I would imagine that they are powder coated after they have been machined.

Yes!! You guys are awesome! This is the exact sort of thing I was seeking out since I have no knowledge of design. "Powder coated" perfect! How does one learn about this sort of thing, do either of you have any recommended texts on product design.... so that I would of been able to answer my own question there?
[doublepost=1462766696][/doublepost]

I would imagine that they are powder coated after they have been machined.

Are there any other steps that you could think of that would be involved afterwards to get that supreme finish?

 

[Dean Yu]

Yes!! You guys are awesome! This is the exact sort of thing I was seeking out since I have no knowledge of design. "Powder coated" perfect! How does one learn about this sort of thing, do either of you have any recommended texts on product design.... so that I would of been able to answer my own question there?
[doublepost=1462766696][/doublepost]

Are there any other steps that you could think of that would be involved afterwards to get that supreme finish?

Powder Coated???
Hell. If you can, listen to some apple product introduction videos, then you can see Jony Ive's "anodized aluminum" at its finest.
Okay I digress. Across apple product lines, everything is not standalone plain aluminum. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anodizing
These aluminum parts have been soaked in acid (mostly sulfric) ponds with electric current passing through. After that, their surfaces become Aluminum Oxide, which essentially hard-coats soft Aluminum material to make it scratch-resistant and matte.
Hope this will answer your question. (I thought everyone on MR knows this

 

[Nospig]

The 2014 is made of broken dreams and distant cries longing for quad-core CPUs.

I thought it was condensed tears of Mac Mini fans.

 

[ActionableMango]

The exterior is made of anodized aluminum.

The interior is made of outdated components from 2014.

 

[Gav2k]

Hey All,

This is a strange question but it's been bugging me for a while now and i've finally taken the time to simply ask. Does anyone know what material the mac mini is made of? Is it aluminum of some sort? I am very curious and interested.

If anyone knows about the materials to use other apple products please share as well. I'm quite intrigued. I genuinely appreciate anyone who takes the time to reply to this. You guys are awesome.

Cheers.

It's 6000 series aluminium, the exterior is anodised.

 

[Altis]

I thought it was condensed tears of Mac Mini fans.

Tears from the souls of those who've felt loss and abandonment, like a man forever waiting and wondering if the one that got away will ever return. Except instead of wallowing in drink, we make thousands of posts helping one another cope, giving false hope that she'll be back again.

(Hoping Ive gets all misty-eyed as he reads this!)

 

[TLOP]

You guys are awesome!! Thank you SO much for the great replies. I sincerely appreciate it.

Cheers you guys! Stay awesome.

 

[roadkill401]

And here i was thinking it was 'slugs and snails and puppy dog tails' cause that what mac mini's are made of.

Apposed to 'sugar and spice and all things nice'.