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Post your Mac mini setups
- Thread starter tpivette89
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I was hiding my Mac mini under my printer stand. But it was hard to bend behind and hit the power button. And plug / unplug devices. So I got this nu stand.
I have the one with the cd drive cutout. I know its not good to put the monitor directly on top of the mini as the other thread here said. But the mini slides out very easily from the nucube. And the nucube if very hard stiff plastic.
So that should support the weight of the monitor and not harm the mini? Or not a good idea?
Its a staples SP9107W monitor with 4 USB ports and weighs 11.5 pounds according to my bathroom scale.
NewerTech® : Computer Accessories and Upgrades : NuCube® Vertical Stand for 2010-2012 Apple® Mac® mini Models
NewerTech NuCube turns an Apple Mac mini into an elegant, computing work of art.
www.newertech.com
I have the one with the cd drive cutout. I know its not good to put the monitor directly on top of the mini as the other thread here said. But the mini slides out very easily from the nucube. And the nucube if very hard stiff plastic.
So that should support the weight of the monitor and not harm the mini? Or not a good idea?
Its a staples SP9107W monitor with 4 USB ports and weighs 11.5 pounds according to my bathroom scale.
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I wouldn't ever put anything on my Mini. Here's an old thread about this topic too in case it helps:
Light weight monitor on top of a Mac Mini...
Is it a bad idea to stand a light weight monitor on top of a mac mini? I like the amount it lifts the monitor up and just the sheer look of not having the Mac Mini anywhere really in sight... but would there be heat issues, etc? I have the 2012 i7 model which I hear runs a little warmer than...
forums.macrumors.com
Which monitor is that, if you don't mind my asking? I research 24" inch monitors for my new Mac Mini so it would help. Thanks!
Could you tell me what make/model rack that is? I have wood shelf unit for my server rack, and i'm looking at getting a proper rack. I have some of the same items ( Synology , Unifi switch, Mac Mini ) , but I have the USGW router. I'm going to try to get the same items plus my cable modem and Raspberry Pi into or onto it .
Mine lives in my rack, so nothing much to see.
An old pic as my rack is somewhat taller now, in the effort to keep everything out of sight.
It's interest you have the Edge Switch and Netgear switches in there, The path panel is a nice touch! .
Thanks!
Here is my Mac Mini setup. I work from home doing sales and support and co-host a weekly YouTube show from here.
The 2018 Mac Mini is on a Satechi cooling base/hub. Under the desk and out of view behind a skirt is an undershelf. I took a 2-monitor clamp-on stand and slung it up underneath the desk to make it into a shelf, the Sonnet eGPU, a switch, USB hub, backup hard drive, a couple power supplies for all this etc. are on that undershelf. Also mounted under the desk is a UPS in a CPU holder, it is behind the larger skirt on the left.
To the right on the Mac Mini (hard to see) is my Intel Hades Canyon NUC which I use for some of my radio stuff. I can use Parallels but when doing so it causes the Mac to run much hotter so I run our phone system and the radio stuff on the NUC and either use Remote Access or the input selector on the monitors to connect a display to them. The two monitors on the top have Display Port cables running to the NUC, all 4 monitors run to the eGPU with HDMI cables.
The monitors are Asus 32-inch HD 2560x1440 all going thru the eGPU. The fifth monitor (27 inch) is for the security system. The 4 Asus monitors are on a clamp-on monitor stand.
The desk is an Uplift L-Shaped desk shown here at standing height. It is entirely self-contained with a single power cord to the wall and a couple bundled cables running from a cabinet behind the seat position for the servers, networking stuff and other radios used for my job. There are denim skirts under the desk used to hide the wiring and peripherals. The desk is on casters so it is real easy to move around to access the rear for wiring.
I can change out the Mac for the NUC in case of a failure by swapping the eGPU cable and the cable going to a USB hub and be up and running on the PC in a matter of minutes. I also have a MacBook Pro set up to do the same. I have this redundancy set up as my previous Mac (iMac 5K) had a cracked display requiring a week long trip to Mac Rehab. I then set up my files for work on iCloud so can work from almost anywhere if needed. If I could get my phone working on WiFi and a battery I would work from the patio on a nice day!
The 2018 Mac Mini is on a Satechi cooling base/hub. Under the desk and out of view behind a skirt is an undershelf. I took a 2-monitor clamp-on stand and slung it up underneath the desk to make it into a shelf, the Sonnet eGPU, a switch, USB hub, backup hard drive, a couple power supplies for all this etc. are on that undershelf. Also mounted under the desk is a UPS in a CPU holder, it is behind the larger skirt on the left.
To the right on the Mac Mini (hard to see) is my Intel Hades Canyon NUC which I use for some of my radio stuff. I can use Parallels but when doing so it causes the Mac to run much hotter so I run our phone system and the radio stuff on the NUC and either use Remote Access or the input selector on the monitors to connect a display to them. The two monitors on the top have Display Port cables running to the NUC, all 4 monitors run to the eGPU with HDMI cables.
The monitors are Asus 32-inch HD 2560x1440 all going thru the eGPU. The fifth monitor (27 inch) is for the security system. The 4 Asus monitors are on a clamp-on monitor stand.
The desk is an Uplift L-Shaped desk shown here at standing height. It is entirely self-contained with a single power cord to the wall and a couple bundled cables running from a cabinet behind the seat position for the servers, networking stuff and other radios used for my job. There are denim skirts under the desk used to hide the wiring and peripherals. The desk is on casters so it is real easy to move around to access the rear for wiring.
I can change out the Mac for the NUC in case of a failure by swapping the eGPU cable and the cable going to a USB hub and be up and running on the PC in a matter of minutes. I also have a MacBook Pro set up to do the same. I have this redundancy set up as my previous Mac (iMac 5K) had a cracked display requiring a week long trip to Mac Rehab. I then set up my files for work on iCloud so can work from almost anywhere if needed. If I could get my phone working on WiFi and a battery I would work from the patio on a nice day!
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The rack is a simple 300mm deep comms rack from a small UK company called All Metal Parts. Their design is very modular so you just buy the bits you need. I made the rack a bit taller in the last year or so by swapping-out the sides for a taller ones, to give me 12U of space.
Current rack, with Mac mini in the lower 1U position:
How is the Satechi working out for you? I've seen some mixed info about the cooling capabilities.
Seems to work fine, but I don't have a baseline for comparison.
I have never done a comparison with it removed but I don't suspect it really helps the cooling that much as most of the heat on the Mini emanates from the top.
I do like the front panel jacks but wish there were a couple USB-A jacks on the rear so I could eliminate a hub and not have wires at the front.
Sorry. I realise this quite an old post but.......
Nice set up.
one question, what’s the beer? I haven’t heard of that one.
Mac Mini 2018, i5 with 8gb RAM and 256 SSD. 500gb Pny Pro Elite PS SSD, 480gb Transcend 230C SSD. 1tb Transcend HD.
BenQ BL2480 Monitor. Apple wired keyboard, Logitech M705 mouse. 4 port and 7 port USB hubs.
BenQ BL2480 Monitor. Apple wired keyboard, Logitech M705 mouse. 4 port and 7 port USB hubs.
2018 Mini i3, 32GB Crucial 2666Mhz RAM - Booting MacOS from 512GB NVMe SSD Thunderbolt 3 Enclosure, Bootcamp Windows 10 on 128GB Internal Storage, LG 27" 4K HDR Freesync Monitor with USC-C, Some 10 year old 2.1 Creative speakers (That still sound great!), Wireless Qi Fast Charger, Logitech MX Anywhere 2 BT Mouse, Crappy Windows Keyboard because my Apple Keyboard died... I have a Macally Backlit Keyboard on the way... Nintendo Switch with a great 3rd party dock that will output to one of the LG's HDMI ports. Oh... and a Glock 22 (Gen 4) with 1 in the chamber. 😂
What are the scaling options on that monitor with macOS? Are you running it as "looks like 1080p"?
Yes. Looks great. Although... turning on the HDR toggle in MacOS makes it look crappy... EXCEPT when watching HDR video. So... I guess I will leave that off unless watching HDR content.
It looks great.
What is the next option up from “looks like 1080” to give more real estate?
This my dual “monitor” setup for my Mac Mini. It’s the base i5 from 2018 with a 32GB OWC RAM upgrade.
1 iPad is using LunaDisplay and the other is Sidecar.
Looks like 1920x1080
Looks like 2560x1440 (May affect performance)
Looks like 3008x1692 (May affect performance)
Looks like 3360x1890 (May affect performance)
Looks like 3840x2160 (Native)