[tyingq]

>The most common Mac mini rack mount enclosure holds 2 minis in 1ru

That sounds wasteful to me. Is that really the most common way for mac hosting companies to do it?

[runako]

https://www.macstadium.com/datacenters

There's an image there that appears to have the units mounted sideways for perhaps 6 minis in 2 RU?

[chx]

At Amazon scale, I imagine they strip the original chassis and use only the motherboard with custom power and cooling for some insane density. As visible here https://youtu.be/R4ArjHz4gd4?t=192 you could save some significant space doing so.

[jpraczyk]

Sorry to disappoint you https://www.servethehome.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/AWS-...

[kingcharles]

Well, I guess Amazon get to keep their warranty...

[tyingq]

Seems like it would have to be 5U if sideways...the M1 minis are 7.7 inches / 19.7cm tall.

[technobabbler]

Do they have an alternative?

[tyingq]

I imagine you could get 4 in 1U if you used all the depth, and perhaps more dense by putting them onto their side in 4U (maybe 5U..not sure how tall a M1 Mini is). I don't know to what degree cooling is an issue, where you don't want the exhaust of one feeding the inlet of another.

[pantalaimon]

They could simply ditch the case, the board alone is pretty small.