Mac mini dock makes room for 2 graphic cards and 4 SSDs

By

Animaionic is a Mac mini dock for professionals.
Animaionic adds top-tier graphics gear to create a Mini mini Pro.
Photo: Animaionic

If the Mac Pro is more computer than you need but the Mac mini isn’t enough, Animaionic is right up your alley. This super-sized Mac mini dock upgrades Apple’s miniature desktop into a graphics behemoth.

The designers of this add-on said, “It has been created exclusively for the purpose of expanding the Mac mini, taking this great little machine to a much higher level, transforming it into a compact yet powerful macOS workstation.”

Add dual graphics cards and four solid-state drives with this Mac mini dock

Animaionic’s creators point out that the 3.0 GHz, hexa-core Intel processor in Apple’s tiny desktop is powerful, but the built-in GPU is lackluster. And while the computer can be user upgraded up to 64 GB of RAM, the storage capacity can’t be upgraded. The maximum is 2TB.

As they put it, “It is fine for office work, internet browsing and basic graphic work but it is not good enough for more demanding tasks… this is why we have created the Animaionic.”

This Mac mini dock adds two PCIe extension slots, which can be used with any graphic cards supported by macOS Catalina.

There’s also four M.2 disk drive slots to increase the Mac mini’s capacity. That’s an extra 8TB of storage.

On the back are six ports: Ethernet, USB-C, HDMI, dual USB Type-A and a 3.5 mm audio jack. Plus, there’s an SD card reader on the front.

The developers call the result the Mac mini Pro.

Debuted on Kickstarter today

Animaionic just launched as a Kickstarter project. Anyone willing to put in $920 (£699) will get one of the first docking stations when they are manufactured. That’s 35% off the retail price.

To be clear, this Mac mini dock doesn’t ship with any graphics cards or SSDs. Those need to be added by purchaser later.

This is an “all or nothing” project. If Animaionic isn’t funded by January 18, everyone who backed it gets their money back. On the other hand, if this project gets to its $657,202 goal, units will start shipping in May 2020.

Newsletters

Daily round-ups or a weekly refresher, straight from Cult of Mac to your inbox.

  • The Weekender

    The week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.