RetroMacCast podcast, John Leake, built an Apple Mini Mac palm-sized replica out of white PVC, a Raspberry Pi credit card-sized computer and a tiny 3.5-inch LCD monitor.

According to the podcast by Mr leake, he had devoted an entire 12 hours in creating the Apple Mini Mac palm-sized replica. And of course, his end product works just like any other Apple computer.

The Process

Mr Leaked shared that he made use of a 3-millimeter-thick PVC from the sign shop where he was working. He twisted and formed it to his desired shape. He had also painstakingly rotated the bezels to achieve the perfect shape.

To make the Apple Mini Mac palm-sized replica, Mr leake said that he had use only an X-Acto knife in the whole process. However, he suggested that for those who are planning to make something like the Apple Mini Mac replica, one can already use 3D printer to cut the long hours spent making case builds.

Mr Leake also said that even with the Raspberry Pi's already small size, he needed to still cut off some parts of the board to achieve the desirable size of the Mini Mac replica. To make everything small and perfect for the desired palm-sized replica, he directly fused some wires into the board.

To make the replica flawlessly look like the original Mini Mac, Mr Leake said that he specifically chose a cocoa-coloured Krylon spray paint. As a result, the colour looked beige on the white PVC. He also crafted a 5-millimeter printed text to appear as if embossed on the plastic.

The Features

The Mini Mac replica, as little as it is for a computer, has an HDMI channel where larger or higher-resolution screen device, as well as USB and Ethernet ports, can be connected. At present, the replica's current screen setting was just 512 x 384.

This palm-sized replica also boots off an SD card and runs Mini vMac to an open source Macintosh OS emulator. This feature allows the MAC software to operate using different operating systems, such as Linux which is the perfect fit for the Raspberry Pi.

The Mini Mac palm-sized replica also had a slot for a classic floppy disk, only 1.1 inches wide.

The Mini Mac palm-sized replica looked like a very expensive project to be created, but Mr Leake said that he only spent $100 for the whole thing.