Mac mini inside an NES -- what could be more beautiful?

We've seen our fair share of Mac mini mods, and NES hacks precede the dawn of time, but seeing the two devices join together in one glorious hack really warms our hearts. Brent Housen's buddy managed to get the whole Mac inside a NES case, and added a DVD writer via an IDE to USB adapter. All the back ports of the mini are available, he made sure the front buttons of the NES were functional, and he's even planning on enabling the controller plugs for use with emulators. Pretty hardcore stuff, we're still trying figure out this whole "soldering" thing.

[Johnny C @ Mar 1st 2006 1:10PM]

The only question I have is, when will I be able to buy one? This idea is too good to not make money off of.

[DNA @ Mar 1st 2006 1:10PM]

More Beautiful?
an NES in a Mac Mini case!

[thegreentrilby @ Mar 1st 2006 1:17PM]

FSCKING AWESOME!!

[munboy @ Mar 1st 2006 1:18PM]

Girls. Girls are more beautiful than Mac mini + NES combo.

[Shonuff! @ Mar 1st 2006 1:20PM]

That is freaking awesome....but I do shed a tear for the poor NES that had to be torn apart. Although, put the NES in the gutted Mac Mini case, and you'll have TWO sweet mods!

[Steve C @ Mar 1st 2006 1:24PM]

munboy....anyone that has time to hack this up doesn't know what a girl is.

It is f'ing cool though!

[David Appleyard @ Mar 1st 2006 1:27PM]

Why butcher something as beautiful and iconic as a Mac Mini?

Poor shiny Mac...

[josh @ Mar 1st 2006 1:41PM]

I would certainly be the last person to be called a mac fanboy, but that is beautiful. Even I would buy one.

[noah @ Mar 1st 2006 1:50PM]

That...is......awesome! It would be pretty cool if it also played emulated NES games.

[Dennis @ Mar 1st 2006 1:54PM]

People did we break Brent Housen's website?

[invaderluj @ Mar 1st 2006 1:57PM]

With an IR sensor that would be the greatest media center ever

[Benson Leung @ Mar 1st 2006 1:57PM]

I think this is absolutely brilliant. Adding a USB to NES converter should be pretty simple, but to have functional ports would just cinch the deal.

[TLS @ Mar 1st 2006 1:58PM]

"5. Why butcher something as beautiful and iconic as a Mac Mini?

Poor shiny Mac.."


Duh dude, what about the NES? Seriously the Mac Mini is iconic, but the NES is one of THE most iconic pieces of hardware in the passed 20 years. Learn your tech history man.

[rich @ Mar 1st 2006 2:14PM]

Was I that stupid and overlooked it, but where's the How To's for this mod?

[mpeng @ Mar 1st 2006 2:15PM]

This is lame. It's not that impressive to put something small into a bigger box. Should I wait for someone to stick a mini inside an Apple ][ box? Yawn...

I'd be more impressed if the mini was a dual core intel and it fit into a Game Cube, Nintendo DS, PSP or a iPod Shuffle case.

[Kevin @ Mar 1st 2006 2:17PM]

Pretty awesome. Not the only one of course.

This one was done in 2002, with a (much less powerful, but cheaper) Mini-ITX board:

http://www.mini-itx.com/projects/nespc/

[DG @ Mar 1st 2006 3:39PM]

Oh, this is completely amazing: The power button turns the system on and off. The cartridge door opens automatically. There is the possibility to use actual NES controllers to control NES emulators.

Just amazing. This is about as perfect a job that can be done.

[unsupported @ Mar 1st 2006 4:00PM]

In the article it says he found a circuit to use the NES controllers, but has not installed it yet.

"i found a circuit to enable me to plug in any NES peripheral and use it in emulators."

[Chad @ Mar 1st 2006 4:24PM]

I plan to completely steal the idea as soon as my friend finds his non-functional NES in his closet somewhere, except mine will have a FW drive inside (instead of an external DVD burner.)

I made sure my friend's Nintendo was NON-FUNCTIONAL, though... I couldn't kill a working one!

[Skan @ Mar 1st 2006 4:48PM]

That is sweet!! How bout putting an iPod in a NES controller???? =O)

[Doug @ Mar 1st 2006 5:39PM]

Awesome!!

[kris @ Mar 1st 2006 5:43PM]

i think it is pretty cool. i like the ipod in the controler idea

[Steve @ Mar 1st 2006 6:05PM]

What's a NES? And can this guy put a mac mini in my cell phone? That's what I'm waiting for...

[Max M @ Mar 1st 2006 6:18PM]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but would this not be the "MiniS?

[jonathan @ Mar 1st 2006 7:56PM]

go 4>.

[Jazzay @ Mar 1st 2006 8:12PM]

theres a certain kinda mint out there thats in a case that looks like an NES controller and is about the perfect size (but quite a bit longer) for an ipod nano. It was at hot topic, check it out :)

[Wolf @ Mar 1st 2006 9:17PM]

Nintendo Entertainment System - Ebay price $30
Mac Mini 1.4 GHZ - $499
Merging the two into a object of Geek Beauty - PRICELESS
In life some things are games
Others a nice tool to hack
for everything else there is Modding to the Max
Known the world over since 1989.

[Brian @ Mar 1st 2006 10:05PM]

So... do you have to blow on it to make it work properly?

[raider @ Mar 1st 2006 10:29PM]

#9... There are emulators out there for Mac OS X to play NES, SNES, Genesis and Playstation games on the console. Simple google search will find it.

[raider @ Mar 1st 2006 10:31PM]

Not console, I meant computer

[tomtux @ Mar 1st 2006 11:16PM]

I have done the same thing only with out having to open the mac mini case check it out at http://tomtux.biz.tm/~tomtux/nes.php

[imageburn13 @ Mar 2nd 2006 3:13AM]

mom, tell me again why you put my nes out in the garage sale? along with the atari 2600?
dammit, mom,

[ric @ Mar 2nd 2006 10:41PM]

thats a mixture of old school and new school. theirs not much i can say but people have a lot of free time on thair hands. but codos for bring the old school look back.

[Chad @ Mar 4th 2006 3:46AM]

Hey, I will be putting the Mini NES up for sale on ebay soon. Keep an eye out!!

[Stu @ Mar 6th 2006 6:08AM]

The recent post that I loved was the Mac Mini - NES mod: http://gaming.engadget.com/2006/03/01/mac-mini-inside-an-nes-what-could-be-more-beautiful/
That thing looks so cool. Thats just one example but I love all the posts here.

[Chad @ Mar 6th 2006 10:33PM]

I've now posted a full guide at applefritter.com

[ster @ Mar 14th 2006 10:40PM]

a good Emulator for any version of OS X is RockNes