For those thinking of making a mac mini carputer...

hmm, so that means if one used a DC/DC supply, you would need about 8.5 amps at 12VDC to run one off your cars power. Assuming the supply was 80% efficient. So thats not to bad. The person doing it would need to make sure he/she uses proper guage wire so it doesnt get hot and cause a fire. The other way to do it would be to run an inverter to get 120VAC and use the standard power supply for it with a shortened cord. Still seems way overboard for a car hardware wise, but cant argue with the size.

G4 in a G5 Case: http://www.mlode.com/~stuka/g45/
iMac in FlexATX Case: http://www.mlode.com/~stuka/imac-atx/

I don't think this will be an option. The mac mini has a largish external power supply which you will probably need to run off an inverter. The power connector on the mac mini looks to be 10 conductors, probably 12VDC+/-, 5VDC+/-, 3.3VDC+/-, data+/data- to communicate to the brick when the machine is on/off/sleeping? I can't think of why you would need 10 conductors when you're doing internal regulation.

It seems Apple has learnt from the G4 Cube - Don't do voltage regulation inside a tiny box with the rest of the computer. The VRM board that turned the 28V input into 28, 12, 5 and 3.3V was one of the frequent causes of failure of the cubes.

Get 'em while they're hot...

pictures of the Mac mini mobo:
http://www.macnews.de/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=16&page=2

I don't think this will be an option. The mac mini has a largish external power supply which you will probably need to run off an inverter. The power connector on the mac mini looks to be 10 conductors, probably 12VDC+/-, 5VDC+/-, 3.3VDC+/-, data+/data- to communicate to the brick when the machine is on/off/sleeping? I can't think of why you would need 10 conductors when you're doing internal regulation.

It seems Apple has learnt from the G4 Cube - Don't do voltage regulation inside a tiny box with the rest of the computer. The VRM board that turned the 28V input into 28, 12, 5 and 3.3V was one of the frequent causes of failure of the cubes.

This was a failure for upgraded cubes, not standard models. If you upgrade the processor, hard drive, and optical drive, then your really pushing the limits of the power board, which leads to failure. This is why cpu upgrades that are 1GHz and up all come with new power boards.

Seems like these guys think it can be done...

http://www.macworld.com/news/2005/01/14/macminiauto/index.php

You will need to supply the unit with 18.5V at no lees than 4.6 amps.

dan k

I guess along with that, now would be the time to ask: Dr. Bob, were you still working at Apple when the mini was in the works? Did you have any involvement in the testing?

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