In the past because Mac There are no games to play, so most creators are figuring out how to incorporate powerful PC modified toHandheld console, as Mac’s support for games has become better and better in recent years, 3A game masterpieces such as “Baldur’s Gate 3”, “Cyberpunk 2077”, “The Castle of Evil” and “Assassin’s Creed: Shadowbringers” can be played, and finally some modification videos have been seen. A few days ago, a Chinese creator shared on his channel that he Mac mini The motherboard was completely taken out, and with a 10.5-inch screen and a homemade round handle, a Mac mini gaming handheld was built from scratch. It not only pays homage to the appearance Apple The design language even has the illuminated logo on the back of the phone.
Image source: Jinjiang Production
Mac mini can also be used as a gaming handheld! Chinese DIY creators share their production methods
Chinese DIY creator “Jinjiang Production” uses the 2024 M4 Mac mini. In addition to its very good performance, the most impressive thing is that the body is incredibly small, which makes him feel that this is not born to modify the handheld machine.
Of course, he didn’t just shoehorn parts into a case, but wanted this gaming console to really have an “Apple style.” At the beginning of the video, he shared Apple’s design philosophy: the circle, whether it is the rounded corners of iOS icons, the interface elements of Mac applications, or the architectural overhead view of Apple Park headquarters, the circle is omnipresent in Apple’s world, so it was finally decided to use the circle as the core concept to create the appearance and control design of the entire handheld machine:
Image source: Jinjiang Production
The handles of traditional handheld consoles almost always have the joystick in the lower left corner and the buttons on the right. There is a certain distance between the two, and the thumb needs to move in a wide range to switch operations.
This time, he adopted a different approach and redesigned it based on the concept of concentric circles. The outermost circle is the button area, and the inner circle is the joystick. The joystick and buttons are “fused” in the same circular area, and the thumb’s movement range is greatly shortened:
Image source: Jinjiang Production
This design is not only for good looks, but also has practical considerations in terms of ergonomics. When playing for a long time, repeatedly switching between the joystick and buttons is one of the main causes of thumb fatigue, so shortening the movement distance can theoretically delay muscle fatigue. The joystick also adopts a sunken design, and according to his hand shape, is set in the most natural position when the thumb is operated at an elevation angle of approximately 60 degrees:
Image source: Jinjiang Production
Although the motherboard of the Mac mini is small enough, it is still too thick to fit into a handheld computer. Therefore, in order to make it thinner, he replaced all the original cooling pads and heat sinks on the motherboard with pure copper materials, which not only improves the heat dissipation efficiency, but also makes the thickness thinner. With a thin fan from the Japanese brand Nidec, the thickness of the entire motherboard was finally reduced to about 20 mm. This is one of the links with the highest technical threshold in the entire production process, because the selection of heat dissipation materials directly affects the stability of the chip and cannot be changed casually:
Image source: Jinjiang Production
The battery uses three 5000mAh power batteries, totaling 15000mAh. The battery module also supports high-power fast charging, up to about 54W, and the remaining power can be directly confirmed through the small screen of the body:
Image source: Jinjiang Production
As for the handheld casing, it is of course made using common 3D printing. But since we want to create an Apple-like texture, 3D printing alone is not enough. Many details need to be processed more precisely:
Image source: Jinjiang Production
He first cut out the shape of the front of the handle from a black acrylic sheet to integrate the overall front view with the black screen panel, and then carved decorative patterns around the buttons:
Image source: Jinjiang Production
In order to make a material difference between the hollow position and acrylic, a piece of transparent glass was cut and filled with:
Image source: Jinjiang Production
Then “internal engraving” is performed inside the 1.5 mm thick glass to carve out the Apple Logo with a depth of only 0.7 mm. Since the glass body has no holes, the logo is hidden inside the glass, giving it a three-dimensional sense of hierarchy:
Image source: Jinjiang Production
The buttons are CNC machined and anodized, and the grip is made of transparent acrylic, inspired by the PSP:
Image source: Jinjiang Production
The back is inspired by the Wii U Pad. The start button and menu button are moved to the back of the grip, and the power button is also placed below:
Image source: Jinjiang Production
Finally, the classic luminous Apple Logo is put on, which greatly improves the recognition of the entire handheld machine:
Image source: Jinjiang Production
The screen is a 10.5-inch 1080P LCD fully laminated panel produced by Minisforum. Mac mini has all the original external interfaces, and only one USB-C is left for connecting to the screen:
Image source: Jinjiang Production
The whole machine weighs about 1,260 grams, which is nearly twice as heavy as the Steam Deck, which weighs about 640 grams. Coupled with the 10.5-inch screen size, the portability is certainly not as good as that of handheld machines on the market. It is almost like playing video games with a tablet:
Image source: Jinjiang Production
In terms of battery life, according to his test, it can last about 4 hours under light use (such as standby, office paperwork, etc.) when fully charged; only about 1 hour is left when playing AAA masterpieces. If an external 10,000mAh power bank is connected, the battery life can be extended by about 1 hour:
Image source: Jinjiang Production
In terms of game performance, he actually tested that two AAA games, “Light and Shadow: Expedition 33” and “Death Stranding”, can run smoothly. He also added that as more and more games are launched with native versions of macOS, coupled with Rosetta 2’s translation capabilities and the assistance of various emulators, the possibility of game compatibility on this device is getting higher and higher:
Image source: Jinjiang Production
Compared with converting a PC into a handheld machine, the playability of Mac must be relatively poor, so this transformation is basically just a dream come true.
Full video:
Source: KOCPC Chinese