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Comment by tokyobreakfast | Hacker News Reader

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?

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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.

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.

>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.

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 :(

Not in European origin sitcoms.

ZX Spectrum?

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