Mac Mini Portable Rig?

music_food · 18th June 2010

Hi everyone,

I'm starting to think about a new setup, as my 2007 polycarbonate macbook is starting to get a bit tired, and i'm not trusting logic as much as I used to for location work, seemed a good time to change. So the key question really is, how possible is it to get a new Mac Mini into a portable recording rig. How would you go about doing it, obviously it'll have to fit into a rack somehow, its just a matter of how to securely do this in a way that makes it 'relatively' portable, by which I mean it will ideally fit into 1 or 2 Units.

Thanks.

tsvisser · 18th June 2010

Middle Atlantic makes a custom rackshelf for the mini in a 2RU size.

RSH4A2S APPLE MACMINI (black brushed and anodized)
RSH4C2S APPLE MACMINI (silver brushed and anodized)
RSH4S2S APPLE MACMINI (black texture powder coated)

These SKU's are for the older style mini, but I'm sure we'll rapidly see them update their database for the new unit.

A whole rackshelf seems overkill to me, though. You could probably velcro it to some surface in your rack and save yourself the space, hopefully somewhere better ventilated to boot.

temetrepo · 19th June 2010

Create Digital Music

rmx16 · 20th June 2010

A Mid Atlantic rack shelf and velcro worked for me thumbsup Down and dirty and cheap

music_food · 20th June 2010

rm616: If it comes to it then that would probably work, i'm just wary of it being lugged around a city by hand and in the back of a car.

Might design something along the lines of what temetrepo posted, integrated screen in the rack would be perfect, just a matter of setting up the routing right so that I can switch between interfaces and monitors.

rmx16 · 21st June 2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by music_food

Hi everyone,

I'm starting to think about a new setup, as my 2007 polycarbonate macbook is starting to get a bit tired, and i'm not trusting logic as much as I used to for location work, seemed a good time to change. So the key question really is, how possible is it to get a new Mac Mini into a portable recording rig. How would you go about doing it, obviously it'll have to fit into a rack somehow, its just a matter of how to securely do this in a way that makes it 'relatively' portable, by which I mean it will ideally fit into 1 or 2 Units.

Thanks.

A buddy of mine is out on tour with this guy.
Macessity MX4 Rack Tray - Allows you to rack mount... (MX4) at OWC

Peace

HughH · 21st June 2010

Hello,
We've mounted several Minis to the back of lcd monitors using the monitor's vesa holes and building a bracket to hold the Mini. There is a company making these brackets as well. We then built cases to hold everything.
It is sort of a home-built iMac, works great.
Hugh

loujudson · 21st June 2010

Mini might be fine, but how can a 2007 Mac laptop be worn out? I have two G4 Powerbooks I use regularly, still going strong, especially fior simple recording tasks... they aren't the fastest any more but they work just fine. If you use a mini you need a keyboard and screen too, so I don't see the advantage.

But you have good suggestions here so have a good time!

<L>

Live Sound Audio · 21st June 2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by loujudson

Mini might be fine, but how can a 2007 Mac laptop be worn out? I have two G4 Powerbooks I use regularly, still going strong, especially fior simple recording tasks... they aren't the fastest any more but they work just fine.

More RAM and a new drive and it's almost all updated. But the new buss speeds make it more snappy if you have to have that.

music_food · 22nd June 2010

Unfortunately, it has on occasion been crashing, which I think is a graphics card problem, which i'd rather not take the risk with on jobs. I'd also welcome the extra power from a slightly better processor, DDR3 RAM and graphics card integration in snow leopard. And, i'll only have my student discount for another year, and i've got a buyer for this mac so it seems like a good time.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, i've also had contact with Oakleigh Cases in the UK about some ideas and how they'd go with it.

18th June 2010	#1
music_food Gear interested Joined: Aug 2009 Posts: 26 Thread Starter	Mac Mini Portable Rig? Hi everyone, I'm starting to think about a new setup, as my 2007 polycarbonate macbook is starting to get a bit tired, and i'm not trusting logic as much as I used to for location work, seemed a good time to change. So the key question really is, how possible is it to get a new Mac Mini into a portable recording rig. How would you go about doing it, obviously it'll have to fit into a rack somehow, its just a matter of how to securely do this in a way that makes it 'relatively' portable, by which I mean it will ideally fit into 1 or 2 Units. Thanks. __________________ music_food "I adore the meaninglessness of the this, we can't express"

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18th June 2010	#2
tsvisser Lives for gear Joined: Feb 2007 Location: Honolulu HI Posts: 1,852	Middle Atlantic makes a custom rackshelf for the mini in a 2RU size. RSH4A2S APPLE MACMINI (black brushed and anodized) RSH4C2S APPLE MACMINI (silver brushed and anodized) RSH4S2S APPLE MACMINI (black texture powder coated) These SKU's are for the older style mini, but I'm sure we'll rapidly see them update their database for the new unit. A whole rackshelf seems overkill to me, though. You could probably velcro it to some surface in your rack and save yourself the space, hopefully somewhere better ventilated to boot.

19th June 2010	#3
temetrepo Lives for gear Joined: Aug 2006 Location: NJ Posts: 697	Create Digital Music

20th June 2010	#4
rmx16 Lives for gear Joined: Jul 2002 Location: Philly Posts: 1,408	A Mid Atlantic rack shelf and velcro worked for me thumbsup Down and dirty and cheap

21st June 2010	#7
HughH Gear maniac Joined: May 2007 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 225	Hello, We've mounted several Minis to the back of lcd monitors using the monitor's vesa holes and building a bracket to hold the Mini. There is a company making these brackets as well. We then built cases to hold everything. It is sort of a home-built iMac, works great. Hugh

21st June 2010	#8
loujudson Lives for gear Joined: Feb 2007 Posts: 2,684 2 Reviews written	Mini might be fine, but how can a 2007 Mac laptop be worn out? I have two G4 Powerbooks I use regularly, still going strong, especially fior simple recording tasks... they aren't the fastest any more but they work just fine. If you use a mini you need a keyboard and screen too, so I don't see the advantage. But you have good suggestions here so have a good time! <L>

22nd June 2010	#10
music_food Gear interested Joined: Aug 2009 Posts: 26 Thread Starter	Unfortunately, it has on occasion been crashing, which I think is a graphics card problem, which i'd rather not take the risk with on jobs. I'd also welcome the extra power from a slightly better processor, DDR3 RAM and graphics card integration in snow leopard. And, i'll only have my student discount for another year, and i've got a buyer for this mac so it seems like a good time. Thanks for the suggestions everyone, i've also had contact with Oakleigh Cases in the UK about some ideas and how they'd go with it.