How to build your own DIY Apple Silicon iMac!

This video is sponsored by iFixit, my go-to site for repair resources. Check out their repair guides and toolkits: iFixit.com/lukemiani
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Display Converter Board for 2011 27" iMac: www.ebay.com/itm/154314759342
I'm tired of waiting for the new 2021 iMacs with Apple Silicon processors, so I decided that I'd take matters into my own hands and make my very own Apple Silicon iMac powered by the M1 chip. And this is a real iMac, not just a monitor! It's... the iMac mini! In this video I’ll show you how to build a DIY iMac with Apple Silicon at home! It’s super cheap and easy!
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[@lukemiani]

What do you guys think of the iMac mini? Personally I can't wait until the real Apple Silicon iMacs come out, but this will do in the meantime :P

[@ahoj113]

:D

[@IronCypher]

Bombastic 👍😁

[@crepspinboss9048]

That’s cool

[@adamburke4738]

I've still got my late 2011 iMac that I retired because I got a MacBook Pro. I'd try something this but I ain't crazy like you.

[@kingdomkey8115]

I think it’s ok but you should cut out some sort of hole and run at least a usb hub through it.

[@TheStanHill]

Luke: “I don’t have any ports” Apple: “Hired”

[@arturonunez432]

LOL 😂

[@xadventures9125]

*1 years later* "the new 2022 imac has no ports"

[@bullymaguire6388]

@@xadventures9125 to love this problem we are introducing the revolutionary iPort starting at only 2 Kidneys ,1 liver and your soul

[@OsmanAcun]

So smart lol

[@CuzzinCoo]

😆😆😆😆

[@psivewri]

Now I know what to do with my 27" iMac with a dead GPU that's sitting in my shed 😉 Great video Luke!

[@hokkida]

Wow i would like to see a video of that

[@bellyousefop2547]

Hello I love your channel it’s the best and your jokes about the technology you work with. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰😀😀😀😀😀😀😃😃😃😃😃😁😁😁😁😁😆😆😆😆😆

[@quernotv5183]

If only the gpu’s dead, sell motherboard they still cost a quite bit

[@quernotv5183]

Oh and also remember to clean everything with EWCALYPTUS OIL

[@dotapark]

Oh man will you record the process? Pls show people what you can do with this idea.

[@terenceokane]

"Even though it's 10 years old, the connector is the same." Apple: "Oh shit we have to change that now"

[@supriyagadekar4636]

Lmao

[@Uzedrname]

Luke: Calls a 1440p display "Hilariously low resolution" Me watching on a 1080p display:

[@yessssss210]

Me watching with a 720p display

[@Petero3]

Me watching on 640p display (iphone SE-1)

[@ArunKumar-oz3tr]

Me watching on a 240p display (Chinese Smartwatch)

[@nobody9706]

Me watching not knowing my own screen's resolution: 🤓

[@AyrisX86]

I thought he was saying that the game itself was low resolution from having to scale up to a 27" display

[@GregsGadgets]

You’re a mad man.

[@midleno8364]

Did you mean a mac man?

[@jivexero]

@@midleno8364 why but no.... he really did mean mad man.

[@matthewbarry2079]

Mad mac man

[@zarannshastri9245]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/j6C3p2CIfa9niJI

[@TugAndThugComputing]

lol

[@ComputerClan]

Apple is taking notes very fast. 📝📝

[@rubenvaladez7746]

first

[@skylinex4719]

Faster than the speed of light

[@willm5032]

...And sending them to their legal team

[@paarthgupta9544]

What are you doing here shouldn't you be waiting for one of your scam buster products to arrive oh, wait ...

[@Sharan25]

Computer clan yea boi

[@RichBriere]

It's been a Year since I watched this. Today I was even MORE moved by your seemingly endless talents with an iFixit tool kit and your sense of Creativity. In fact, I was soooo moved that I've hand-written a letter to the Boy Scouts of America asking that they respectfully add a "Luke Miani Merit Badge" to their lineup. You're one of the Best....Thanks for what you do. :)

[@letiziasparks2902]

Luke you really provided tremendous amount of humor, tutorial(s), quality editing and delivering inspiration to the concept of "what if?" I was genuinely laughing all the way through this which is rare for tech videos. Keep it up and I truly appreciate your time and energy in all your videos.

[@NoahHerman]

(Every other tech KZbinr desperately waiting to post new-product content) *Luke: Fine... I'll do it myself*

[@alanmay7929]

i have a great idea, what if someone built the mac mini m1 in a mac pro 5.1 chassis with huge capacities HDD and SSD storage and many other accessories!

[@JohanDee]

@@alanmay7929 I really would like to see that!! 😎

[@evancrazyerror]

“World’s First Apple Silicon iMac” Apple working on one in the labs: 👁 👄 👁

[@spede1]

Yes. Apple probably already has a few sitting around

[@positivejams]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/bYC9l2Cspdunnqs

[@alibruh7864]

This comment aged so well

[@peterjohnston4088]

July 2023 - still waiting

[@confus9d]

Windows Users: “Macs are garbage because you can’t upgrade them or use them like our cool windows pc/all in ones” Luke: “ *Observe.* “

[@user-le8ul4nr5t]

Yeah, I'm observing and what I saw is him buying a new mac and frankensteining it into his old one. In case you haven't noticed, apple does everything they can to prevent you from changing anything about their machines (except for the new mac pro, that one was a legitimately well thought machine with good upgradability). SSD's are tied to the board, sometimes even soldered, ram is soldered too, sometimes the CPU is too and the GPU almost always is soldered too. No PCI-e to be seen on most machines and good luck getting extra disk space or USB ports. Also, I'm a linux user, so blocking it with the T2 chip really doesn't go well with me. The M1 chips just makes every single one of these worse.

[@rhydonify]

​@@mohomonkey9906 yeah! and i (a windows user) think that this was very awesome because i dont like intel xD i ean i dont hate apple the m1 is good but im a windows user so yeah lol

[@andrewhanson1180]

Sticking a computer into another computer is not an upgrade.

[@user-le8ul4nr5t]

@@mohomonkey9906 true, but what's the point of better (single core) performance when you also get a worse everything else?

[@walker4541]

@@andrewhanson1180 it kinda is because the computer he put inside is faster

[@Oliur]

God damn it, I want one.

[@nathankean7968]

More like the "iMac Miani" Am I rite lol

[@killedpatrick]

ayyooooooo

[@Anthony-cx4iy]

Ahahaha wow so funi

[@Nino-zg4ux]

Yes

[@OzTalksHW]

Ok this is kinda epic ngl

[@crazyop5165]

Hello ur 500 dollar budget pc video was amazing . Keep it up 👍

[@dededcraft]

Bruh just before this video I watched your video about 500 dollar pc, thats kinda funny

[@TugAndThugComputing]

lol

[@SerPapus]

Bro what’s up I didn’t know u liked apple hahah

[@zorro315754442]

Luke wasn't the first... kzbin.info/www/bejne/bYC9l2Cspdunnqs Plus the old man kept some of the functionality of the original iMac case.

[@88takmic]

Thanks Luke for the very creative renovation of your broken iMac. Turing it to the monitor gives me the good ideas for the future projects. This is one of your best Yourube videos you created! Thanks.

[@aprole87]

The little comedic skits in this video are amazing! Keep up the great work!

[@MatthewMoniz]

This is gold! haha nicely done

[@alanmay7929]

i have a great idea, what if someone built the mac mini m1 in a mac pro 5.1 chassis with huge capacities HDD and SSD storage and many other accessories!

[@positivejams]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/bYC9l2Cspdunnqs

[@cybermonkey4985]

*Tim Cook sees this video* Tim Cook: He's too dangerous to be kept alive.

[@positivejams]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/bYC9l2Cspdunnqs

[@Hybrid225]

@@positivejams wtf

[@ahmedtwahir]

I think it's a great mod, for the ones with power tools they can drill in holes for power buttons, ports etc etc and you have a fully functional imac

[@slob5041]

I wonder if you can keep most of the components this way if you theoritically want to keep a computer as a backup plan

[@thebigbosshelp]

This isn’t the first... this idea was done over a month ago by someone else (Mac Repairman)

[@JackyYBT]

Luke: “I don’t have any ports” Apple: “Write it down!”

[@batmanasdasd]

🤣🤣

[@ivansit0TV]

Apple at their Keynote: "This is the world's first Apple Silicon iMac" Luke: Mmm right 👁👄👁

[@Salami888]

Great job Luke, this is something very different to what all the other Apple tech nerd have done , and this nerd really appreciates your effort in giving us something unique... Keep up the great work 👍

[@JordanDilla]

Perfect solution to avoid more e-Waste. Love it. Would love to see someone to use the original connectors of the iMac to the Mac mini logicboard to make it perfect.

[@Javiramosjuegos]

Best apple channel without doubt dude!

[@erstwhilegrubstake]

I'm surprised you weren't running around screaming "It's alive! Alive!"

[@kamil4151]

This is brilliant! While I also have 3D printer, it might end up being less "janky" than what you did here. Thanks for the idea! I'll watch the end of this video after I'm done with ebay.

[@radicalraccoon]

The ports and power button issues are relatively easy to resolve. Same for the mounting of the Mac Mini inside the iMac chassis with a little effort and tools. This feels kind of half-baked when it really didn't have to be, but it's still nice to see and full of useful information for those interested in and willing to put in a little extra work to build some "Classic" M1 iMacs. It's an especially great way to repurpose dead iMacs, such as the one in this video, and I happen to have one sitting on a shelf in my closet as well, so I think I'm going to give it a shot once I get an M1 Mac Mini.

[@RyanDunton]

The fact that you went through all of this to make a video really says something. Great work man!

[@dominat0r91]

The broken old iMac haunting you in the intro.. this is gold, thank you for the laugh. Inspiring video!

[@ronmac1832]

I knew there would eventually be a way to use my 2011 iMac for something other than target mode! Thank you bigly for bringing this adapter to light for me.

[@AwesomeGames56]

It would be awesome to see all the ports working and the optical drive slot working as well.

[@zedlyfe]

there's prob an adapter to go from USB-C to the internal cables uses by the optical drive and SD card. And then get a Male USB-C to Female USB-C cable to extend the reach from the Mac mini's port to outside the iMac shell.

[@13jparker]

I used a 2012 imac as a display for a long time using a controller board. You can pretty easily solder the power button connections from the original imac to the pcb with the buttons on it. That way you can turn it on using the original button and not have to worry about those controls hanging out of the ram slot at the bottom like I originally had it.

[@FabienChampigny]

I was considering converting my 2011 and perfectly working iMac like this. Now I know it is possible ! Thanks 🙏

[@Anthony-cx4iy]

I swear all the tech KZbinrs little smiles are so overwhelmingly cute I could literally explode

[@trapsarentgay4195]

Cringe

[@zackwatkin7022]

This is the only channel that has motivated to upgrade my old macs and make them useful. Thanks Luke!!!

[@LaskyLabs]

I like that your sort of theme now is warm colors. Like your profile picture has an orange ring around it, and you've got orange lights in the background, and even your intro has all the orange. It's honestly really nice.

I love this, but you should go for a part 2. Get those ports and power button working.

[@devcybiko]

I had thought that the M1-MacMini was ripe for deconstructing into rack-mountable server. Get a bunch of macminis and put them in one rack. Your project definitely validates that thought. Nicely done.

[@johnchristiansen6088]

Great project Luke, and what a nice presentation you also made. This should be mandatory seeing for all those involved in iMac design in Apple.....

[@bullymaguire6388]

“Fine, I’ll do it myself”

[@severusclay5886]

I love Tobey Maguire!! Bully Maaguire hahaha

[@Sarcasmka14]

Hey spiders 😁

[@bullymaguire6388]

@@severusclay5886 I missed the part where thats my problem.

[@bullymaguire6388]

@@Sarcasmka14 Aww look at my fan little jr.

[@severusclay5886]

@@bullymaguire6388 sticking to character I see! Do the Emo dance bully maguire

[@loganhamilton7430]

The project of the iMac you used is one of the videos that inspired me to buy the mid 2011 27 inch iMac I type this on. I hope mine doesn't end up like yours, atleast before it was M1

[@Lying29]

For ports, extension cables cost little even for thunderbolts and you can glue them on position to reuse the ports on iMac body. And for power bottom, try to install some remote smart motor things.

[@BattleDroid0402]

I love this. Imagine buying out a dysfunctional 4k/5k imac (Just make sure the screen is working, everything else doesn't matter) and doing this mod for the m1 Mini. Glorious.

[@lennyizekor809]

Never clicked so fast

[@xploit7707]

heh

[@wiredmind]

Luke, seriously, thank you for your content.

[@gueroloco8687]

This video is awesome!!! Luke you did a fine job and I love your creativity!! Their displays are the best looking for sure!!

[@megapangolin1093]

Fabulous to see, that always was the most iconic design of iMac for me. Well done, more inspirational ideas.

[@FlyingPigChannel]

I chose this video over the LTT video in my subscriptions. Thank you for the great content! :)

[@sdysd125]

This is so cool! I love it when people reuse old computers like this. Love seeing your videos man, you do an awesome job every time!!

[@positivejams]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/bYC9l2Cspdunnqs

[@fyremoon]

Look at Mac Repairman's G5 conversion video for pointers. If you 3D print a bracket that holds USB ports and an Ethernet port, you could reuse the existing I/O board holes to connect external devices and you can make a board so the power switch on the iMac can be used to power the M1 Mac Mini so you don't need to take the screen apart. A 3D printed power adapter would enable the power connector to fit snugly in the case and prevent creepy crawlies from entering the case. If you can get the camera working, it would be a fully functional iMac.

[@saradtomlinson764]

One of your best videos! Love the tech aspect... but also... very funny opening. Great work!

[@mikehardy7060]

You could extend the ports using a multi-port hub. An interesting idea for my poor 2008,1

[@ahmedaladraj]

been waiting for this all day 😍

[@TheHouseOfMoth]

World’s first? No. Macrepairman did this a month ago :)

[@breaux555]

You could make extension cables for the usb inputs and the power button so you don't have to remove the display every time you wanna use the device. Cool video too

[@ThinkCleverAndSmart]

The amount of humour in this is amazing. Love it!

[@Flaveus]

I'm digging the iMac dude, just wonderful

[@elouis364]

For someone with only screw drivers and tape, this is EXTREMELY AMAZING!!! Plus it's my first time in your channel and I'm entertained 😝 Subbing!

[@MrAlan1828]

You could run a Thunderbolt 3 extension from within and then buy one of those m1 docks which sits under the stand, nice and clean. as for air flow you can get creative and find some thin plastic sheets to redirect to the vent holes. But its still not there yet as there is no internal audio as the speakers have been removed unless you put them back with an amp :)

[@abednego8304]

🤣 Luke you are a mad man for real. Much Love from Cameroon!

[@RegitYouTuber]

This was a very well-made video. Genuinely impressed you went out of your way to do justice to the video title, and the skits were integrated really well to tell a believable redemption story. A great watch.

[@Andreas_Kotidis]

great idea!! consider that: cut a hole in the side of the iMac right in the disc slot and put the board of the mac mini in a way that you have the plastic part with the ports and power button facing the side and fitting the hole. re-glue the standoff in a place that helps you screw the board in the place you need to.

[@karlepps8793]

Absolutely brilliant! I have a dead (PSU) late 2013 27" iMac and was considering options - I like the idea of sticking in a Mini and also the idea of just using the iMac as a monitor. Seems like I now have a lot more options to play with 🙂

[@sojoga9671]

Luke, can you install an USB extensor at back of imac to usb input Mac Mini silicon and start use them?

[@risley.ogembo]

Apple pretty much killed using an iMac display for any mac mini, that idea was Long gone before he started.

[@SomeUnremarkableGuy]

Probably he could, but it wouldn't look nice.

[@sojoga9671]

@@SomeUnremarkableGuy They gonne be inside, if he finds a flat usb extensor, should look nice. Usb C to usb A, to match the back´s usb entrace.

[@timgurr1876]

Just drill a big hole in the iMac housing and connect multiport dongle cables (run through the hole) to each of the USB-C ports on the MacMini and one will have lots of ports. Can even get dongles with SD Card Slot. Problem solved. Or maybe the other end of the dongle cable could be mounted in the existing port holes on the iMac housing (might need special cables, but shouldn't be a problem for Luke).

[@risley.ogembo]

@@timgurr1876 I’m saying that you can’t connect two different CPU’s with two different chips, that’s why he took everything out of the housing and connected the panels and dongles with the internals of the Mac mini.

[@50Charlie50]

Imagine the police at Luke's door just being like "we have had reports of a library iMac being stolen" and that would just be Luke's career over with probably a collection of a dozen iMac's

[@Sobat_HAPE]

Damn... This is cool. 😍

[@positivejams]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/bYC9l2Cspdunnqs

[@ekomulyadi679]

Ayo...om moldy jangan mau kalah...bikin versi lokalnya

[@mattb9664]

This is what I need for our mid 2011 iMac. Still works well with a beautiful display. It's amazing how simple google searches only yield results involving the hokey external adaptors that involve some sort of delay time. Trying to campaign with my wife to buy a new M2 Max mini.

[@XXXXLance]

FINALLY something new and interesting :D I love but also was little tired with replacement of SSD and adding Ram to old macs :)

[@MilesSomerville]

Absolute mad lad. Great work, Luke!

[@letsm0ti0n]

My dream is that someone can insert the M1 into the iMac G4. Legendary design, fantastic. Deserves a second life.

[@fullfunk]

tooo big case for small m1 maybe the Mac cube

[@letsm0ti0n]

@@fullfunk The Сube and hemisphere of the iMac g4 are approximately the same in volume.

Hi Luke, great work here! I now kind of regret to have upgraded my 10 year old iMac to (almost) the max last year (i9 and 1TB SSD). Do you think it would be possible to add ports by using simple extension cables with some kind of fixture plate where the original ports sat? Do you think the original iMac power button can be connected or is the one on the mac mini soldered on? Last thing: It would be great to use the excess power of the mac mini to power the screen ...

[@Gautamnar]

"you just have take the screen off" noice🤣🤣🤣

[@BrambleStreet]

You're killing it Luke, your content was good but it's getting so much better!

[@davidlarson2534]

It’s six months later and I am still excited about this project. I have a G&W G4 and the big G5 cases. I am considering an M1 mini and RAID 10 in the same box.

[@stevereed2081]

Apple Silicon in that gorgeous old design from 2012? Ultimate iMac in my heart!

[@saroopashree]

Literally everyone in the world: waiting for Apple to launch their Apple silicon iMac Luke saving the world: I'll do it myself Awesome video BTW

[@andredei8492]

*YES ABSOLUTELY* i waiting as well for it since weeks!!! I also cannot understand that Apple does not offer a secondary Monitor with the same design as the iMac!!!

[@egg6649]

I have a feeling that they will release it with this years, or next years iMacs. Hopefully...

[@neomartian5243]

BRAVO!!! I have a 2010 iMac 27" lying around. You have inspired me to give it a try 😂

[@KendallSeabury]

Apple: "WRITE THAT DOWN!! WRITE THAT DOWN!!"

[@flyingturtleblue3527]

I was thinking of putting the mini mobo it on a keyboard... please do it 🙏

[@ota024]

Even using it as a monitor would be enough. I always loved iMacs. They look amazing even today.

[@bmwman1029]

This is soooo simple yet so cool. Love the video!

[@BrianJones-wk8cx]

Honestly, I was skeptical coming in. I had recalled the prior project and wondered how disappointed we were going to be. This is an interesting idea, however, and caveats aside, it turned out pretty well. I also appreciate the display idea-I have an old retired 2011 iMac that I could repurpose in that very way.

[@valramos2003]

"It doesn't have any ports." Apple agrees.

[@larsradtke4097]

For the place of the removed optical drive, just put a dock there, with type c, usb, hdmi and card reader. For the power button, doesn't Mac have the power on by keyboard option?

[@spencerb2]

Love this video, fantastic new video style Luke

[@jiwanrekha8432]

Editing has become substantially great 😎👍

[@PixelSheep]

Love how the Mac mini is "mounted" inside the imac - *totally* not like my SSD's on my side build *ähm* *ohmm*

[@user-le8ul4nr5t]

In one of my PC's, the hard drive (no, not an SSD, an actual hard drive, the ones that break if they vibrate too much) is "held in place" by nothing but the sata power and data cables. I have no idea how it's still working.

[@NoahAviation09]

Tell Tim- he won’t be happy!

[@rt9648]

Watching this on a 2011 27" iMac, which is now giving me the side eye.

[@foreigntome]

Great work Luke!

[@Aleksey_Konovalov]

great job 👍

[@mystic316]

im waiting for someone to do it properly with the ports mounted correctly and the power button mounted properly as well.

[@adamohwly]

The mac to monitor modification it's just perfect. I think I'll do that.

[@tejasmishra3257]

Im impressed by your love for technology 😌

[@DidierConstant]

Hello, I have a dead 2011 27" iMac catching dust for two years now and I'd like to convert it into a second monitor for my MacBook Pro. Do you have a video showing how to do this? Thanks!

[@poesis3d996]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/najdgImvqK9qr8U It's pretty straight-forward. You just need the kit like Luke said, and a power supply of 12v and 5A.

[@alexandrecouture2462]

iBook Pro? What is it?

[@bobbyLovesTech]

I love the idea of this! My question is, could you run a TB4 cable out of the back and into a TB Dock? That should suffice, shouldn't it?

[@sashapaleologue1234]

I mean, yes that’s totally fine. The only problem remaining is being able to power it on. And I imagine it should be technically be possible to solder the original power button to the circuitry in the mac mini. But don’t quote me about this.

[@Darkshadowguy]

@@sashapaleologue1234 should be easy to do imo. Should just be removing the power button, resoldering longer cables from the board to the button, then fixing some small 3D printed mount to the inside so the button can be pushed from the outside. Hell you could probably wire it to the iMac power button as it’s just a button that sends a “power” signal to the device afaik

[@skip741x3]

@@sashapaleologue1234 of course...anyone with alittle technical skill and a volt /ohm meter could figure it out..just a remote switch

[@robertlogan9733]

I loved this video. Very well done. Your content is always great.

[@chrumczyk5494]

I'm pretty hyped to see the M1 Imac, which will be pretty thin, but it will lack a lot of feature for sure. Like you mentioned ports, they should add a lot of them.