Thursday, January 30th 2025

Apple Mac mini Goes Retro: ColorWare Intros Custom Mac mini With $300 Premium

The M4 Mac Mini is quite certainly a delightful little computer. Powered by Apple's widely praised M4 SoC, the 0.8-liter mini PC punches well above its weight class in both CPU and GPU benchmarks. However, for those of us who are obsessed with retro tech but still desire modern-age performance, ColorWare has introduced a limited-edition Mac mini with a customized enclosure that looks straight of the 1970s, joining the extensive list of custom Apple products, including Apple Pencil and AirPods, that the company sells at a premium.

Unsuprisingly, the internals of the Mac mini remains unchanged. ColorWare has three versions on offer, ranging from the base M4 variant with 16 GB memory and 256 GB storage, all the way to the high-end M4 Pro-equipped variant, with 24 GB memory and twice the storage. The exterior, of course, is where all the customization takes place. The Mac mini Retro is available in two colorways: Retro Light, and Retro Dark. The latter is basically black, while the former utilizes a beige theme. The Apple logo at the top of the system has been replaced with Apple's colorful logo from the tech giant's early days in the 70s, and the sides have been customized to sport CNC-milled "vents" that mimic Macs from the era, such as the Apple II.
As mentioned previously, the customization job comes at an additional cost. The base variant, which can be bought for $599 from Apple, commands a price tag of $899 - a $300 premium. That said, whether the retro look is worth the premium will depend on individual customers, but there is no denying that there is quite an intangible charm to the overall look of the system, but that is, of course, a highly subjective matter.
Source: Notebookcheck DE
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3 Comments on Apple Mac mini Goes Retro: ColorWare Intros Custom Mac mini With $300 Premium

#1
TSiAhmat
300 $ for a new Paintjob is pretty steep... Still looks cool
and the sides have been customized to sport CNC-milled "vents" that mimic Macs from the era, such as the Apple II.
Okay, a bit more than a paint job. Still pretty steep increase in price. Cool Nonetheless
Posted on Reply
#2
Smartcom5
GGforever[…] and the sides have been customized to sport CNC-milled "vents" that mimic Macs from the era, such as the Apple II.
These nuts have done it wrong though. The faux vents should be horizontal instead of vertically, like from back in the days of the classic Macintosh II-era. They had one job ffs!
… and the Apple-emblem is not even embedded as a dedicated symbol like a metal/alu-plague back then, nor embossed or recessed but seems to be just pad-printed. Unoriginal.
Posted on Reply
#3
InVasMani
Not really a Mac person never particularly gravitated towards Apple in general, but the retro looks pretty authentic and true to nature so I imagine many older nostalgic Apple fans will be pleased by it.
Posted on Reply
Jan 30th, 2025 21:53 EST change timezone

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