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Mac Mini News |
Mac Mini GTI Style
Thursday March 10, 2005 10:30 PM EST
 This may be the best Mac mini auto install ever. Matt Turner of Tunertricks.com has installed the Mac mini into his 2001 VW GTI and all we can say is "WOW!". We talked to Matt and he's promised us a more in-depth interview. In the meantime look and drool!
Matt Turner - "Well, it kept me from posting regularly, took about two weeks to plan and occupied nearly every night for about three weeks, but the big project I've been promising to post on is done, finally. I actually finished it last week, but wanted to make sure I had covered all the bases and that everything was working properly before putting the car back together and photographing it (thanks to Ryan for the quick shoot).
When the dimensions for the MacMini were announced, I immediately got to work figuring out what the best way to integrate one into my own car would be. If I was going to put a Mac in my car, I wanted to make sure it had all of the functionality that it would have in a home environment while still maintaining an easy-to-operate interface so that distractions could be kept to a minimum. So the researching, planning, sketching and disassembly of my car's interior (to see what would fit where) began. After taking the thought process to every extreme imaginable, I decided on the following equipment list:
 1.42GHz MacMini with 512mb RAM, Superdrive, Bluetooth and Airport Extreme
Xenarc 700tsv 7 USB touchscreen monitor with VGA and dual composite video inputs
Cirque EasyCat USB trackpad
Griffin PowerMate assignable USB control knob
Lacie 8 in 1 USB flash card reader
Belkin USB 7-port powered hub
Belkin USB four-port bus-powered hub
Belkin Firewire 6-port mini hub
Alpine PXA-H701 Multimedia processor with RUX-C701 controller
MonsterCable MCPI300 300watt power inverter
Female USB, Ethernet and Firewire ports
40gig iPod dock
Griffin RadioShark USB FM/AM tuner
Over the next few days, I will be putting up a post on each general aspect of the install to more closely cover how I did what where and any problems I encountered, as well as the solutions I came up with for these problems as they arose. More detailed pictures of the process will accompany these posts as well, for those interested in the more technical aspects of the install - such as removing the power button and indicator from the MacMini and relocating them to the switch panel in the dash, extending the Apple power supply’s cable to locate the “brick” in the rear side panel of the car, fabricating the brushed aluminum trim bezels and rebuilding the glove box interior to accomodate the MacMini. So, enjoy and please check back over the next few days to check out these posts and two new iPod dock installs from last week…"
More Pictures:  All pictures courtesy Tunertricks.com
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More Information:
Tunertricks.com
More Pictures of GTI
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