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Comment by mojo982 | Hacker News Reader

I've been looking for a good SFF home server system but every one I find has an external PSU. It's surprising to me. I'd love an Intel NUC but I don't want a power brick the size of the computer itself.

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In case you don't already know, the Mac mini has an internal PSU.

I'm like you; I want one box / lump, not two (mainly because I move the box around a lot). Consequently, I have a Mac mini. The price cheapest non-used Mac mini however has risen from $500 to $800 in about 3 years.

It also overheats if you use it for too long (e.g. keep the Simulator open for most of a work day), causing the machine to slow down to a barely usable speed.

I'd prefer an external PSU.

This seems to be a common thing with apple devices - supposedly powerful hardware with woefully inadequate cooling. iirc one of the i9 macbook models actually performed worse than the corresponding i7 model because the cooling was so bad.

Seeing as I'm being downvoted - look! I found a source: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-MacBook-Pro-15-Core-i9-s...

I'm at work so I don't have time to do many more googles.

See https://www.sfflab.com and https://www.mini-itx.com/store/category?type=case&volume=ove.... Most cases with an internal PSU are over 4L in volume. This mini-STX case requires an external power brick: https://www.amazon.com/SilverStone-Technology-Mini-STX-Compu...

Never could figure out people who actually wanted an internal PSU ... i thought big tech forced them on us for reasons of their bottom line: Ie as planned obsolescence. Eg one could easily make a svelte "phone" with a 30 second capacitor and Qi power transfer... Such would not wear out, letting one choose, swap, power backs/cases. Bigger things might standardize on wired connections like USB-C to cheap 18650 packs.

There are options for building a brickless SFF system, but they all have tradeoffs or limitations. There isn't a good one-size-fits-all internal psu until you get to the SFX size psus.

I myself have been building out a brickless skyreach s4 mini system inspired by this [0] (same author as this A300 unboxing)

[0] https://smallformfactor.net/articles/feature/community-featu...

This Intel NUC compatible power supply is not that big. Plugs into the wall and barely noticble. https://www.amazon.com/FSP-Barebones-Replacement-FSP065-10AA...

Honestly, if there was a way to attach them together (say, a clip), I'd be fine with a brick. Make the clip provide a small gap and airflow should be good enough to prevent thermal issues. If I do run into problems, I can always separate them...

Isn't that the kind of thing you could make?

Would an internal PSU somehow be smaller than an external one?

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