I think the Mac mini boards actually fit pretty well into these iMac G4s. Pretty sure I’ve seen someone fit one in a Frankenstein Mac. Maybe it was Luke?
I’ve had my DockLite sitting in a box on my table next to my 20” iMac G4 for about 3 weeks now (ordered it back in January after seeing Action Retro’s video) and I can’t WAIT to have some time to set aside and do this conversion. This is everything I’ve wanted for almost a decade!
Can't believe I'm just seeing this! I have vintage iMac exactly like the one Luke just converted, excellent shape and works 100% but like he said, it's too old to do anything productive. It will connect to the internet but everything loads ridiculously slow if at all. I turn it on occasionally and just play music because as he said, those speakers ROCK! I've always thought it was the most gorgeous computer ever made and wished I could get it updated enough to use... now I can and I'm stoked!
YESSSS finally a Luke Miani video! It seems like forever since your last one. Side note, I really love Juicycrumb. For real. I think we can all appreciate companies like them, who not only create awesome and fun projects but also help us get more use out of our older electronics. I only hope that they can get their prices down eventually, so that this kind of thing will become mainstream.
Well done Juicy Crumb team! You know they have one for an Imac from 2011 () as well. Huge shotout for Adrian, Timothy an Jon. And Luke, for featuring their amazing product, and the vision! Less e-waste.
That was my college engineering dream project. Creating an adapter board foe thr G4 iMac that can adapt to the LVDs signal and maintain the ports in the back. Also installing a Nuc inside but that was with 2014 tech. So happy someone else got to it.
Just did this exact same setup on my 20". It's made the computer relevant again in my home. It's such a pleasure to sit infront of and use even after a whole day being infront of a regular PC at work.
I just LOVE how you perform magic with these oldies and change them with some great hardware to a new life! Keep it going, Luke! You are using the FORCE within you!!! Im still waiting to see what Juicy Crumb comes up with for my iMac 27" from 2015... The last time you only showed us its poissible, but no link to buy it!
Wow! That is really cool! I have a 2011 iMac that still runs and is still in occasional use. We are going to replace someday soon. When we do I think I will convert it into a monitor to save it from becoming E-Waste!
OMG that's Don Gilet in the iMac commercial hahha he has been in a lot of british tv shows that i've watched. It's great that you can do this with such old tech, it's another way of keeping old macs alive but with modern hardware versus going down the opencore legacy patcher route.
Hugh Jeffries put an m1 Mac mini in one of these a while ago and it looks completely original minus the ports, you should check out his video after finishing this one
It’s (in my opinion) the most beautiful product Apple has ever made, and I hope I could get one someday day. Great video, as always, Luke! A big hug from Argentina!
Another great video Luke! Keep em coming good sir! I have the board in my 20" iMac and loving it. SO glad to see the 17" is released now. I may be getting one for my 17 as well... when funds reach egregious levels again! :-)
I absolutely love projects like these, it's so cool to see people doing this kind of work to not only keep this old hardware alive, but keep it *usable*. There's obviously still plenty of room for improvement - from ambitious things like making this a one-cable docking solution rather than needing three cables, to the simpler ones like including plastic inserts to fill out the port cutouts in the case - but what they've done so far is still incredibly impressive. (And, of course, the people using this to stick Mac Minis into the case are doing even cooler things!) Now, there's also an elephant in the room here: PSUs and CCFL backlights die with age, and most likely most of these will die in a relatively short amount of time - they're 20+ years old already, after all. Luckily both are also things that can be replaced and modernized, but not without serious engineering effort - replacing the CCFLs with LEDs would be great, but if you want it to look good (and have reasonably accurate colours) you can't just stick an off-the-shelf LED strip in there (not to mention the different power and voltage needs of LEDs vs. CCFLs), and replacing a bespoke, proprietary multi-voltage PSU like that with something more modern is absolutely doable, but again not trivial (though given that capacitors are the most likely point of failure, PSUs can often be repaired - but that's also pretty dangerous work). Still, we're seeing an ever growing cottage industry of projects like this, making replacement power supplies, spare parts and accessories for old gaming consoles and 80s computers, display adapters and upscalers, and all kinds of tools and equipment to keep old tech usable in various ways. Absolutely love seeing this.
Wow, great project! I have a working 20" G4 iMac with mouse, speakers and kb in excellent condition. Thought the kb was from a later model. I didn't realise they were worth that much. I'm glad I kept it :)
Love this. I love this kind of reusability, which Apple lacks in. There's also the modification of putting a Mac mini M1 circuit board in this iMac, giving it new life.
Oh my gosh, Mr Miani, you have completely outdone yourself that is absolutely gorgeous, I thought I was dreaming 😮 you’ve just made me a customer of those guys. Tai chi Love
this truly is beyond incredible - and maybe after next year when i buy my first home, i can look to buying a bigger home down the line where i'll have the space and can justify this 😅
Now all we need for the next step is that board with a placeholder for a mac mini/macbook mainboard, so that you can just screw it on and connect it. Turning that G4 into a real modern mac with vintage design ...
What a great re-use for these beautiful machines. Hoping JC can complete the work needed to sell versions that allow a modern Mac mini logic board to go inside this and the 2011 iMac as well. Also, I would have thought that a melamine sponge would scratch the plastic, especially transparent acrylic.
I backed the DockPro M1 on Kickstarter way back when and am still waiting to receive it. I'm a big fan of what JuicyCrumb is doing to reduce e-waste by upcycling old equipment and I hope they're able to keep growing. I'm just waiting for the day I can pull my old 2011 iMac out of the closet and put it back to work.
RU-vidr Rocky Hill did something similar with the iMac G3 and the eMac a while ago. I don't know the resolution on those old CRT screens but, retro gaming would be awesome in one of those. I'm so nostalgic for the eMac especially, the design still holds up.
Those CRTs don't have resolutions but they do have a certain amount of detail they can show which is based on the dot pitch. They actually work fantastic for modern stuff too as motion clarity is still unmatched
The CRT screens were amazing. I sold my G3 last year but was so surprised with how nice it looked, considering how bad regular monitors and Windows XP did, back then
I think this is brilliant. Only issue is you lose the old internals, I hope many people save theirs such that they can be put back in future. For preservation purposes, it would be good to be able to use them in the future.
This is a very nice project. I would not gut a perfectly working iMac G4, though. There'll will be less and less of those as time goes by, and we'll regret not preserving them. [edit:] Love to learn DosDude has been involved in this project. He's genuinely amazing.
It's a super cool project! I always thought the iLamp was the coolest Mac design ever. Still do. Not sure I'd want to give up my 4k screen, but it's still damn cool.
So freaking beautiful!!! I wish there was a way to house modern displays in a vintage housing for the retro look. But I doubt that’s what the majority of the market wants :]
Come on Luke! you gotta do it like Action Retro who put the m2 mini inside the Imac g4. A proper conversion. "I perfected the iMac G4" is the title of the video. Want to see you do it too.
Tearing the guts out of a working iMac G4 and turning it into a monitor, which will barely be used. Would be better to get a non-functional unit and put a modern Mac Mini internals and that would be a modern marvel.
That's super cool. I've been looking to find an iMac G4 system for a while just to have, but they're apparently scarce in my neck of the woods (Montgomery, AL). I'm currently running 1440 displays on my M2 Mac mini, so I'd run it on a setup like this all day long!
I’m positive surprised that the screen still looks good today! That is incredible given its age! (My 2006 MacBook screen is much dimmer and duller today)
Mac mini logic board should fit inside without a problem. There're definitely enough room, hope they can come up with an upgrade that will take in the new logic board and make this a real iMac
