LEGO-styled mini Apple workstation by Watt
IV
Design studio Watt IV recreates the 1979 LEGO brick with a printed screen and keyboard into a 3D printed workstation with a hidden Apple Mac Mini M4 inside. Partly designed from nostalgia, the gadget, named M2x2, includes studs on top reimagined as functional nodes: one hides a media control knob, while the other works as a cordless charger for an Apple Watch or AirPods. The body is printed in bone white PLA+, the same color household as the initial LEGO Space computer system brick and the original Apple Macintosh 128K, which released in 1984. The type follows the sloped brick geometry: a rectangle-shaped base, a face angled at 45 degrees, and two studs on top.
At the back of the mini Apple workstation by Watt IV, 2 panels fold out on filament hinges, the wings of the device. They carry two hooks around which the power cable covers, and behind the body, a recessed pocket cut into the rear panel functions as a handle, which is a direct reference to the carry deal with on the back of the original Macintosh 128K. The 7-inch touchscreen beings in the front faceplate, and there’s a USB-C hub, with its PCB removed from its initial real estate, slid into the base of the case and exposes Ethernet and USB ports at the front.
all images thanks to Watt IV horizontal bars throughout the screen job live sensing unit information In 1979, LEGO released a sloped brick with a printed screen and keyboard on its face called 3039p23. It appeared in the Classic Space sets, that include the Alpha-1 Rocket Base and the Galaxy Explorer, as a cockpit computer, however it didn’t work given that it was a piece of plastic with a sticker. Fast-forward to today, design studio Watt IV takes this design into their hands and launches the M2x2, a 10:1 scale variation of that 1979 brick, built from 3D-printed PLA plastic, powered by an Apple Mac Mini M4, and fitted with a seven-inch IPS touchscreen.
The style team utilizes the M2x2 as their main computer, connected to an LG screen. The seven-inch screen runs a Home Assistant control panel, built to match the design of the initial LEGO brick’s printed interface, and the horizontal bars throughout the screen project the live sensor data, including the clever home controls, where the width of each bar modifications in proportion to the existing reading. So far, the Watt IV team has uploaded how they made the mini Apple workstation, allowing users to make one for themselves within their homes.
there’s a USB-C center slid into the base of the case and exposing Ethernet and USB ports at the front the horizontal bars throughout the screen job the live sensing unit data a recessed pocket cut into the rear panel functions as a
handle view of the rear where the Apple Mac Mini M4 is integrated into the main body parts of the LEGO-inspired case are 3D printed