Except for being a really barely totally different shade of grey, you may suppose this stack got here out of the issue trying like this.
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One of many biggest strengths of the Mac Mini is its skill to energy an impressively succesful workstation whereas taking over barely any desk house. I praised it for simply that in my latest evaluate of Apple’s up to date, M2-powered Mini.
Overview: Apple Mac Mini (2023): Quicker, cheaper, higher
Nevertheless, the port choice on the system will be limiting for some customers. If you happen to’ve obtained a ton of peripherals, it’s possible you’ll always have to swap plugs. And, for those who do have to swap one thing, the rear location of these ports generally is a trouble as properly. Satechi’s custom-designed Stand & Hub for Mac Mini solves all of those issues with out taking over any extra desk house, and with out ruining the clear traces of the Mac Mini’s exterior.
The highest contains anti-slip pads to maintain your Mac Mini in place, in addition to vent holes to verify its cooling stays unobstructed.
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One of many few complaints anybody might degree towards the current-gen Mac Mini is its comparatively lack of expandability. You are just about caught with no matter configuration you buy because of its lack of user-expandable reminiscence or storage, and also you’re restricted to the accessible ports it ships with, no enlargement slots right here.
Any dock or hub with exterior storage can, in fact, remedy this situation, however they’re all going to take up extra house and destroy one of many Mac Mini’s biggest advantages. Not so with Satechi’s resolution.
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This intelligent dock features a cozy little properly in your Mac Mini to sit down in. As soon as positioned inside, you will join the hub through a single, completely connected USB-C cable. This provides you entry to the complete number of ports on the system’s entrance aspect, together with:
1 x MicroSD and 1 x SD card reader slots1 x 3.5mm audio jack port3 x USB-A (5Gbps) ports1 x USB-C (5Gbps) port
This raises the entire variety of accessible USB-A ports to 5 and USB-C ports to 3, the identical variety of complete USB ports because the Mac Studio, minus the Thunderbolt help throughout a couple of extra of them, in fact.
Satechi even features a tiny screwdriver to put in your SSD with.
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Additional closing the hole between your $599 Mac Mini and the $1999 Mac Studio is the inclusion of expandable storage proper contained in the Stand & Hub. The enclosure discovered on the system’s backside helps a single M.2 SSD in a capability of your alternative. Though it lacks full NVME help, it gives a reasonable means so as to add stealthy, speedy bulk storage to your Mini with out taking over even a single additional port.
The cable’s brief sufficient to keep away from slack when plugged in, however lengthy sufficient to help reaching both USB-C port.
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The $75 present worth level for the Satechi Stand & Hub makes it a simple suggestion. It takes a system that was already unimaginable and makes it much more versatile and expandable, all whereas including a minimal of bulk and with out hurting its aesthetics. It is a terrific little companion for a tremendous little system that you could decide up at Amazon proper now.