How to turn your Mac mini into a Mac Cube

DIY Mac projects are always a iffy proposition. Not only does Apple make its products more difficult to rip apart than most, the sight of a dissected MacBook or iPod is often enough to make some of the more faint of heart readers break out the smelling salts. Not so for 123Macmini member Anthony, who looked at a mini and a G4 Cube and decided that they must be made one. The goal being, apart from the deserved bragging rights, to add a TV tuner and an expansive 3.5-inch 500GB SATA hard drive more suitable for a media PC than the mini's comparatively puny 2.5-inch drive. The TV tuner turned out to be the easiest part, with Anthony simply opting for Elgato's external EyeTV Hybrid unit, but the rest of the project is definitely a don't-try-this-at-home deal, with modifications aplenty right down to the power supply cables. Still, for specs like these in a genuine Apple box, it's about your only option at the moment -- at least until Apple maybe, possibly fills in the gap itself. Check out a couple more pics of the action after the break, then click through to the source for the complete blow-by-blow account.

[Via Digg]

[Charchris @ Nov 4th 2006 12:01AM]

Not very 'mini' anymore is it?

[Brian @ Nov 4th 2006 12:05AM]

snazzy.
now if only there was a PC in that plastic box :o
The torch has been lit, burn baby burn.

[Jr. @ Nov 4th 2006 12:14AM]

Macs, due to their turn to the Intel dark side, are PCs, you dumbass!

Best Windows box I own is a Mac.

[Whynot @ Nov 5th 2006 8:53AM]

Actually, Macs have always been PCs, for PC stands for Personal Computer. Apple referred to its machines as Personal Computers in its early days (until after the Macintosh). Then IBM started to use it, and the opposition Mac/PC appeared. If we wanted to use the term correctly, we would have to talk about Mac PCs and Win PCs. It is worth noting that the first popular PC was a Mac (Apple II).

So remember folks, the first PC was a Mac, Macs are PCs, and PCs are...PCs too

[Rick @ Nov 4th 2006 1:12AM]

For the love of God, take the stickers off of your television.

[Shunnabunich @ Nov 4th 2006 5:05AM]

Man, that was a lot of work. If I could get one'a those made FOR me, that'd be cool.

[dopple @ Nov 4th 2006 8:14AM]

Why?!

[Jason @ Nov 4th 2006 9:11AM]

Haha. He did all that impressive, tricky electronics work on the inside, but all the Mac fans on the forum can do is complement the colors...

[embee @ Nov 5th 2006 1:11AM]

I hope it still has the functionality of the original Cube where you could turn off the computer by letting a piece of paper accidentally fall on top of it.

[Jr. @ Nov 5th 2006 9:41AM]

Wouldn't that make the Apple I the first true personal computer?

[TJ Wasik @ Nov 6th 2006 1:15PM]

Actually technically a mac is not a PC. The term PC that we use now is a shorthand of saying IBM PC Compatible, which is to say compatible with the IBM Personal Computer, a specific model name for the original IBM PC which IBM copyrighted. older macs were not compatible withe the IBM PC and therefore were not a PC. Of course the new Intel macs are technically no longer macs but are in fact IBM PC Compatible and therefore are PC's so technically there is no longer a mac Vs. PC debate.

[Andrew McI @ Nov 5th 2006 11:49AM]

looks good - I really liked my Cube - the best thing was it was small and completely silent.


now if we could get one of the new Intel chops to work . . . .


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