Ask HN: Laptop Without Screen or Keyboard

4 points by version_five 3y ago ↗ HN

Is anyone aware of a "battery powered mac mini" - essentially a portable computer that I can bring between home and work setups that have a mouse, keyboard, and monitor, but leave on? Is there a reason this is a bad idea?

8 comments

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desindol 3y ago ↗

There are some NUC like systems available, but they are primarily for embedded/industrial use. On Alibaba such devices have their own category https://www.alibaba.com/showroom/battery-powered-mini-pc.htm...

version_five 3y ago ↗

Thank you, this looks like the kind of thing I was looking for (even of I'd prefer one was made by a company I'd heard of)

what-imright 3y ago ↗

why not plug the mac mini into a battery? remove the psu and get a 12v battery.

why would you want that though? you want it on in your bag as you’re traveling? If you can power a screen, then you can power the mm. It doesn’t make sense and the mm boot instantly now

iamcrazyyounus 3y ago ↗

I'd like to know if you use your machines for any specific applications, or if you just surf the web.

tony-allan 3y ago ↗

Curious about your use case.

Depending on what you are after a Raspberry Pi is cream enough to duplicate or operate with a battery.

https://howchoo.com/pi/raspberry-pi-gadget-mode

toast0 3y ago ↗

If you can get by with suspend to disk, any of the nuc like thing should work. The Intel compute module PC on a stick from a couple years ago would make an easy to carry device, although I don't know if there's been any of those with updated processors.

dTal 3y ago ↗

Is there some reason you don't want a screen and keyboard? If it's just for the sake of portability, you can get a GPD Micro PC - it has a screen and keyboard but it's hardly bigger than a NUC.

mdrzn 3y ago ↗

Why with a battery? You will need a power supply to power the monitor anyway, so I would just use an Intel NUC or any other mini PC.