I built a pint-sized Macintosh | Hacker News Reader

I built a pint-sized Macintosh

jeffgeerling.com

111 pointsingve26 comments

At the end he write the setup cost him $20, but the display alone sells for $50 (from the amazon link he provided). I'm assuming he had a bunch of the components already, but that's not really a fair cost comparison.

I'm guessing that's a mistake in the article, in the video he says the setup costs $100

I wrote the blog post a couple months back, and was considering the parts for the "computer" (Pi and adapter board alone) in that $20 estimate—the V3 version of the Pico Micro Mac is an additional $6.

But I'm assuming in that setup you have a VGA-capable monitor on a shelf somewhere; not everyone does, of course.

In the video I mention the all-in cost, accounting for the monitor, keyboard, mouse, power adapters, etc.

This isn't a practical setup by any means, but at least you wind up with a neat couple bits of hardware that could be repurposed once you get bored of it!

I'd love to see this shoved into a Mac SE or Classic chassis with a replacement 9" LCD to match. Jeff, if you're reading this, make it happen lol.

The old Macs really were the perfect form factor for a compact desktop computer—you saw them in every bedroom in every 1990s sitcom.

Are there any good options these days that are smaller than a 24" all-in-one?

You can build an SE or Se/30 on a new PCB with a replacement transparent case and analog board.

I think he is 3d printing a 1/2 size classic Mac chassis for the oi2040 rig

The transparent case from MacEffects is amazing, but almost always out of stock :(

There seem to be some 15 inch all-in-ones but these days if what you want is a small form factor the answer is surely a laptop. Even if you're just going to keep it on the same desk forever that's what you'd get if you want 15 inch or smaller.

I could see a “portable” all in one being successful. Something closer to the first Mac where it had a handle in the back with a built in screen. In the 10-14” screen range. Back in the day, my mom had an internet appliance (light browsing and email only) which was close to what we’re taking about. She loved it.

You’re of course looking at all laptop parts, but the form factor would be part of the appeal. Then again, an iPad dock would also probably cover this form factor for about the same cost.

If this can generate VGA signal, it can also generate driving signals to control the original CRT too. Monochrome CRTs especially don't have fixed pixel counts, you can feed 4K240 signals if you want. It takes an analog circuit designer to pull off though.

Something I wonder about is whether the next few years will see a (small) fashion trend towards 'dumb PCs' similar to how there's a small group of people that prefer simple/feature/dumb phones. There's a number of factors within the PC space now that could see a PC with limited capabilities or primarily offline find its niche. Along with that, having a distinct form to set it apart from regular computing devices would be interesting, and Apple has a lot of them especially from the G3/G4 era.

>The old Macs really were the perfect form factor for a compact desktop computer

For certain types of work, they are excellent. I used an SE/30 as a dedicated writing and light programming machine for several years. It presents a friendly face, and the intimacy of the small screen is nice.

The small screen discourages distraction, though the small resolution was a bit of a chore while programming (lots of scrolling).

I'd like to see a toaster Mac-style box, perhaps with a slightly bigger screen, say 12", and with a decent resolution.

Not in European origin sitcoms.

ZX Spectrum?

There's a really small form-factor Mac clone based on the pico-mac on a Pi RP2040. Only available in kit form after Apple complained.

https://blog.1bitrainbow.com/pico-mac-nano/

> Only available in kit form after Apple complained.

That's several levels of disgusting. But then again, Apple long ago lost touch with the people that put them on the map in the first place.

If you don't protect your trademarks you lose them. Could be worse, if this was Nintendo there'd be a hit squad out.

They could have just come to an agreement, that way it would not lead to trademark dilution.

I wonder why he didn't use a RP2350, it costs practically same as the older RP2040. That way it could have 450 kB or so system RAM, enough to play around with some old productivity software.

There's experimental support for it, getting just over 400KB of RAM, and someone was able to run 7.5.5 on it: https://github.com/evansm7/pico-mac/issues/7#issuecomment-23...

I saw someone did the same but with a cool bit of bent plastic for the casing that evoked the original casing in a minimal way.

Edit, this isn't the one I read but looks like the idea is older than I thought as someone was doing it in 2015:

https://www.randomorbit.co.uk/?p=904

Nowadays its possible to just 3d print the case. They even sell PLA filament to match color.

https://arstechnica.com/apple/2025/06/new-filament-lets-you-...

Sprites mods did one a few years ago. A Mac Plus in a tiny chassis with a 1.5" monitor.

https://spritesmods.com/?art=minimacplus&page=7

IMHO, a Macintosh/Apple product is equally about the hardware that delivers the software.

I dont want to belittle the authors work, but I would call this "building custom hardware for a pico-Mac project."

There is a version for the Adafruit Fruit Jam Board. It’s pretty cool, it was fun to go back in time. About 75 all up in costs.

Very cool! This just needs a little more horsepower so I can emulate my first Mac (IIvx).

This is nice, but I yearn for the day I can run it on my watch. ;)

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