Mac mini in car heat issue?

[The-Pro]

I would like to recommend you to get an older mini, not a brand new one.
You dont need the power the new ones have and since you want to use external storage you dont need the internal storage either. If something goes wrong then you wont be set back as much either.
A 2010 mini should be plenty for your needs. A small ssd for the mini would also be good since it would boot up quickely then and that part of the system is not as vulnerable to shocks and heat
As far as heat goes I have no idea and im not planing on trying it out.
But seriously, apple tv and a NAS would do what you want right? music tv shows and movies. Unless I missed something. Just saying

Good Luck

Edit: Saw you ment a dual 1tb inside the mini. You can do that with a 2010 aswell although a 2011 would be better. Nevermind partly what i wrote above then.

 

[rodrigomarrafao]

the first issue was the software. Windows ran like windows does so that was a pain in the butt to maintain on a regular basis. The hookup for the autosleep never worked right even after some forum help online and in person. So there were a lot of hard shutdowns from loss of power, accept for the one time when it kept it live and drained the car battery.

Also at the time the touchscreens were about as crappy as you can get. I had the slide out and it kept breaking. Cheaply made and I didnt want to go to a dbl din to get a static install. Also a car enviroment is harsh for that type of enviroment. The software available at the time was hack work at the very best and random keystroke coding at the worst. Everything ran slow and I was never able to get the full effect that I desired.

That was when I decided to try out a small laptop. Hacked it up to install the screen and then put it back together and tried another external screen. Again because it was a cheaper laptop the specs were poor and upgrades were nill to say the least. It eventually ended up being so unreliable that I couldnt operate it while driving (changing tracks and playlists mainly). I had planned to go the macmini route but eventually became so frustrated with the whole thing that I just gave up. Solid state at the time was so expensive it was just dumb to dump $2k into a computer install for software that wouldnt run properly anyways.

if I were to do it today I would do a solid state NAS with an AppleTV and an airport express. Not sure what I would use as a monitor as I am sure they have improved. I know for certain I would go with a static monitor setup with touchscreen, but then that leads me to think I should just install a iPadmini with the same airport and solid state NAS if I really wanted to go all out.

Basically an iPad mini at max size in a removable enslosure would just about do it.

Nice someone knows something. Thx this is all all I am saying. Learn from experience.

 

[rodrigomarrafao]

Please OP, using trackpad and keyboard to control your "solution" is insane.
At least consider the iPad/Nas route as stated above. I AM giving you advice, you NEED a touchscreen. Try to picture yourself wanting to get to a specific movie or music in your huge library via keyboard/trackpad, with a desktop/laptop UI on your car. Very dangerous. An apple remote? Come on man, use remote app from your iPhone, if you going that way.

Sorry about the H in anachronic, English isn't my mother language.

The other statements about rich people having better things to do than visiting a forum, is extremely offensive and narrow minded. The prejudice in this statement is borderline criminal.

 

[Lancer]

The most I would do is if I have the right car and money mount an iPad Mini to the dash for a big GPS and entertainment system.

 

[JoeFkling]

Another thing to concider is that if you are going to hook this up to any kind of stereo system that you upgrade the cars electronics. Most hondas have a small battery so an upgraded alternator and bigger battery at the very least, deep cycle battery for sure and if you can swing it 2 batteries in series along with that upgraded or additional alternator. Unless you're gonna hook this up to a line out convertor and ditch the stereo all together and have no amps, then a deep cycle battery and fresh alternator should do you just fine.

 

[maddogsrfr81]

Do you YouTube search for spring break nationals vibe Lexus. I work for a car audio manufacture. One of our demo vehicles had a mini, Apple TV, 3 touch screens that controlled the mini and obviously used an iPad as well. He was from Miami.

He was in the Metra Electronics booth. He used the Apple TV to run a 24in screen in the trunk and the touch screens (1 in dash and 2 on the head rests) to run the mini.

 

[xxredxpandaxx]

I would like to recommend you to get an older mini, not a brand new one.
You dont need the power the new ones have and since you want to use external storage you dont need the internal storage either. If something goes wrong then you wont be set back as much either.
A 2010 mini should be plenty for your needs. A small ssd for the mini would also be good since it would boot up quickely then and that part of the system is not as vulnerable to shocks and heat
As far as heat goes I have no idea and im not planing on trying it out.
But seriously, apple tv and a NAS would do what you want right? music tv shows and movies. Unless I missed something. Just saying

Good Luck

Edit: Saw you ment a dual 1tb inside the mini. You can do that with a 2010 aswell although a 2011 would be better. Nevermind partly what i wrote above then.

My friend has a (2011?) mini that he got and never uses so I was thinking maybe I could buy that off of him. I was also thinking of buying one off eBay used or something. As far as the Apple TV and NAS goes it just seems harder and more problematic than using just the mini, also Im not a giant fan of the Apple TV.

Please OP, using trackpad and keyboard to control your "solution" is insane.
At least consider the iPad/Nas route as stated above. I AM giving you advice, you NEED a touchscreen. Try to picture yourself wanting to get to a specific movie or music in your huge library via keyboard/trackpad, with a desktop/laptop UI on your car. Very dangerous. An apple remote? Come on man, use remote app from your iPhone, if you going that way.

Sorry about the H in anachronic, English isn't my mother language.

The other statements about rich people having better things to do than visiting a forum, is extremely offensive and narrow minded. The prejudice in this statement is borderline criminal.

The track pad and keyboard will only be for if I need them, on start up iTunes will start and I will have it on shuffle and I usually don't need to select individual songs. I use my macbook pro in my car now sitting in my passenger seat with an AUX cord going to my stereo. For movies I will be using XBMC (the best program ever in my mind) which works extremely well with the apple remote, I have no problems browsing through my 250+ movies and 35+ tv shows I have at home, but I will have much less in my car. I was thinking of getting an airport express so that I can use the remote app it I wanted to, but I don't know if I will want to do that or not.

You will want that solid state drive. 1 small bump during a write or read and the drive could be toast. It's a worth while investment for sake of data and stability. Either that or get a few drives and clone them regularly and get ready to swap them out regularly.

I know that the SSD would be far better than a HDD but for the amount of storage I need it would be to expensive. I will probably try it with the HDD and If something goes wrong I will try for a SSD.

----------

Another thing to concider is that if you are going to hook this up to any kind of stereo system that you upgrade the cars electronics. Most hondas have a small battery so an upgraded alternator and bigger battery at the very least, deep cycle battery for sure and if you can swing it 2 batteries in series along with that upgraded or additional alternator. Unless you're gonna hook this up to a line out convertor and ditch the stereo all together and have no amps, then a deep cycle battery and fresh alternator should do you just fine.

I was thinking about power issues and I don't think I need to have a second battery, It should all be fine with an optima battery that I am going to get. Also I think you meant parallel not series as that would fry everything in your car with 24v . I am going to have one amp for a 1200 watt subwoofer that I have so hopefully it works fine. If not I will go to two batteries and a heftier alternator.

 

[JoeFkling]

OOPS. Yeah, parallel. Damn, series would have been pretty gnarly lol.

 

[rodrigomarrafao]

OP connects a laptop via aux to listen to music on his car stereo while he drives? There are so many better solutions than this one that it is unbelievable. I really starting to consider we are being trolled by the OP.

A simple pen drive and any stereo made in the last 5 years would be already a FAR better solution. Almost anything I can think of is a better solution, even using MP3/video dvds on ancient disc changers (yikes) is FAR better.

2013 solution for you: iPad (or any tablet, in fact android ones has much better connectivity) + Nas storage. End of story. Mount the tablet on your car console, and there you go, all your movies, songs, gps, internet... at your fingertip.

 

[Colchiro]

You'll want that SSD.

Bumping a laptop while it's running is what kills a lot of laptop drives.

 

[xxredxpandaxx]

OP connects a laptop via aux to listen to music on his car stereo while he drives? There are so many better solutions than this one that it is unbelievable. I really starting to consider we are being trolled by the OP.

A simple pen drive and any stereo made in the last 5 years would be already a FAR better solution. Almost anything I can think of is a better solution, even using MP3/video dvds on ancient disc changers (yikes) is FAR better.

2013 solution for you: iPad (or any tablet, in fact android ones has much better connectivity) + Nas storage. End of story. Mount the tablet on your car console, and there you go, all your movies, songs, gps, internet... at your fingertip.

Thats what I do right now as I haven't built my carputer. I would like to have everyone stop suggesting iPad plus a NAS system as that would be far more expensive than just putting in a mac mini and more things could go wrong.

 

[JoeFkling]

more expensive maybe, but easier to manage and maintain.

 

[auhagen]

I dont think I would make that type of setup, and I dont think you have thought it thru. Before tablets were where they are now, I'd might consider it, but now, I just think it's plain silly.

Your gonna need to power on/off all the time. Your setup with a trackpad and a keyboard, is kind of insane if you ask me. It's a car, not a sitting desk. The idea with a Apple remote is not gonna work if the mini is in the trunk, and the remote is kind of clumsy in a car?

If you end up with the mini setup, it will work with a traditional hdd, as long as the roads aint too bumpy. But SSD would be the better choice. You will also need some kind of knob controller in my opinion, a lot safer than the trackpad and keyboard setup. I'm thinking the Griffin "Powermate".. Get a very good screen, and think about anti glare when your buying.

The ideal setup if you ask me would be a ipad or ipad mini as main unit, installed with the stereo, used for gps, music and what your planing to do with it. A hdd with built in wifi hotspot, for movies. And if your planning on entertainment for kids on the backseat, simply buy 2 cheap android tablets. The kids can choose what movie they will see from the wifi disk, heck they can even choose their own music if they want to, and the best part is, that its all removable in seconds, so you wont have to worry about people breaking in, just to steal your setup.

The price all in all should be pretty similar, but thats my opinion

When all thats said, I like your idea, and I will wish you good luck with your setup

 

[xxredxpandaxx]

I dont think I would make that type of setup, and I dont think you have thought it thru. Before tablets were where they are now, I'd might consider it, but now, I just think it's plain silly.

Your gonna need to power on/off all the time. Your setup with a trackpad and a keyboard, is kind of insane if you ask me. It's a car, not a sitting desk. The idea with a Apple remote is not gonna work if the mini is in the trunk, and the remote is kind of clumsy in a car?

If you end up with the mini setup, it will work with a traditional hdd, as long as the roads aint too bumpy. But SSD would be the better choice. You will also need some kind of knob controller in my opinion, a lot safer than the trackpad and keyboard setup. I'm thinking the Griffin "Powermate".. Get a very good screen, and think about anti glare when your buying.

The ideal setup if you ask me would be a ipad or ipad mini as main unit, installed with the stereo, used for gps, music and what your planing to do with it. A hdd with built in wifi hotspot, for movies. And if your planning on entertainment for kids on the backseat, simply buy 2 cheap android tablets. The kids can choose what movie they will see from the wifi disk, heck they can even choose their own music if they want to, and the best part is, that its all removable in seconds, so you wont have to worry about people breaking in, just to steal your setup.

The price all in all should be pretty similar, but thats my opinion

When all thats said, I like your idea, and I will wish you good luck with your setup

The on and off is no problem with the power source I am going to use, (I think I posted it somewhere in here) but it is build to be used in a car and I can set delays for on and off when I start and turn off my car so I wont have to do anything with the power on or off of the computer.

The trackpad and keyboard is only if I need it, which most of the time I will not. The apple remote is easier to use than all of the remotes that come with stereos now so I'm not sure what you mean when you say kind of clumsy in a car.

But thank you for that last line it appreciate that more than the people saying my set up is stupid.

 

[auhagen]

The on and off is no problem with the power source I am going to use, (I think I posted it somewhere in here) but it is build to be used in a car and I can set delays for on and off when I start and turn off my car so I wont have to do anything with the power on or off of the computer.

The trackpad and keyboard is only if I need it, which most of the time I will not. The apple remote is easier to use than all of the remotes that come with stereos now so I'm not sure what you mean when you say kind of clumsy in a car.

But thank you for that last line it appreciate that more than the people saying my set up is stupid.

So the powersupply automatic sends a signal that turns on the mini, and off when your turning your key ? Amazing never heard of that.

The remote is clumsy, because it aint stationary. Fidelling around in a car after something is dangerous when driving, even the small tings. I would still consider the knob I mentioned, and program that to do the same thing as the remote does, and even more. That way it will be in a stationary position, and the feel, look and response of the knob should be amazing.

Your welcome, I like those kind of projects, even though I dont understand your selection of hardware, with the possibilities available today.

But hope to see some pictures in this thread sooner or later

 

[JoeFkling]

I have seen a few of these installed before and they are programmable.

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Griffin%20Technology/NA16029/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=shoppingengine&utm_campaign=googlebase&gclid=CLCz0Z70grcCFQ_ZQgoduW0AUA

 

[blanka]

What should it do?
Maybe check out a Raspberry Pi if you want XBMC (30$), or a UDOO when you like Android and a little more power (100$). These are USB powered tiny logic boards with SOC's without heatsinks or fans.

 

[xxredxpandaxx]

So the powersupply automatic sends a signal that turns on the mini, and off when your turning your key ? Amazing never heard of that.

The remote is clumsy, because it aint stationary. Fidelling around in a car after something is dangerous when driving, even the small tings. I would still consider the knob I mentioned, and program that to do the same thing as the remote does, and even more. That way it will be in a stationary position, and the feel, look and response of the knob should be amazing.

Your welcome, I like those kind of projects, even though I dont understand your selection of hardware, with the possibilities available today.

But hope to see some pictures in this thread sooner or later

I usually keep my remote on my lap as I'm driving, and here is a link to the power supply I am going to use. Link I will post some pictures when I start it. (might be a while )

I have seen a few of these installed before and they are programmable.

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Griffin%20Technology/NA16029/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=shoppingengine&utm_campaign=googlebase&gclid=CLCz0Z70grcCFQ_ZQgoduW0AUA

Image

Iv seen these too and I'm not a giant fan of them.

What should it do?
Maybe check out a Raspberry Pi if you want XBMC (30$), or a UDOO when you like Android and a little more power (100$). These are USB powered tiny logic boards with SOC's without heatsinks or fans.

I want to use a mac mini, because I like OS X. I looked into Raspberry Pi before and it doesn't seem like it has what I want.

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

Since money seems to be of little importance in this endeavor, you could just add UV protection to the windows of the car to keep the temp down.

You mean probably IR protection.

 

[ToomeyND]

You mean probably IR protection.

I did, and I knew it right away that I messed it up.. I didn't think anyone would catch it.

 

[auhagen]

I usually keep my remote on my lap as I'm driving, and here is a link to the power supply I am going to use. Link I will post some pictures when I start it. (might be a while )

Are you sure you can use that with the mac mini? The usb is for programing only, the trigger signal is thru a old "jumper" plug, that goes to the motherboard. As far as I know, you cannot do that on a Mini ?

 

[xxredxpandaxx]

Are you sure you can use that with the mac mini? The usb is for programing only, the trigger signal is thru a old "jumper" plug, that goes to the motherboard. As far as I know, you cannot do that on a Mini ?

I can take the wires from the power button on the back of the mini and connect it to the two jumpers.

 

[js81]

To answer your ORIGINAL question, YES I think Florida summertime heat WOULD be an issue with a Mini - my 2009 runs way too hot for my tastes in my AC'd house. I know you say that running temps aren't really a concern, but they should be - unless you plan to let the car COMPLETELY cool off before even starting the Mini, that is. I imagine you'd be like I am, though - you'd want your music when you start the car, not 15 minutes later after driving down the road and letting it get cool.

As for everyone's else suggestions... sorry dude, they're right. Mac OS X, as much as I like it, is NOT a good touch OS AND keyboards and touchpads are NOT made to be used in a car while driving (actually, it's probably illegal; if not, I think it should be). This just seems, to me, like a recipe for disaster (as does your current setup of using the MBP on the passenger seat - SCARY!).

I second the iPad and external storage if needed... but if you INSIST on a carputer, why not go for a CHEAP, small Linux box and run XBMC as a front-end only (don't even try to navigate the actual OS). Then, connect that to an in-dash touchscreen LCD. Maybe something like this...

One last thought on that, though... do you plan on playing movies while driving? If so, this just got even scarier... if you don't, then why do you need a screen at all? iPod Touch/iPhone and an aux cable handles music very well, after all.

 

[auhagen]

I can take the wires from the power button on the back of the mini and connect it to the two jumpers.

So your going to take a mini apart to do it. Okay that makes better sense for me now. But what about the p4 power plug? You sure it will be a good solution? I imagine that you have to cut cords, and use solder and so on.

It's not the easiest task in a mini.

 

[opinio]

Must be one of the most idiotic community ever. A mini mounted on a car? LOL.

I don't think it is that strange?

You mount disks in you mini, you mount the mini in your car, and you mount the car on the curb while your trying to mount the disks in your mini. One big happy circle. It all works.

It only gets idiotic when you drive a mini because you then mount disks in your mini, you mount the mini in your mini, and you mount the mini on the curb while your trying to mount the disks in your mini.

That's more idiotic...