[Sebastian_09]

What I’m not sure to understand is that if you want to just run Claude code or openclaw type software with llm apis or subscriptions (and not run local models) to benefit from a local file system and always-on capability for ‘second brain’ type of workflows, I guess you don’t need a Mac mini but can run it on a raspberry pi or an old laptop ? Does anyone have experience with that ?

[mikeocool]

Yeah I find the Mac mini trend is kind of baffling.

It seems like it's driven either by 1) people hearing Macs are good for AI, buying one, and using Claude for inference, not realizing that you interact with the anthropic API from an internet connected hair dryer. Or 2) people want their agents to have blue bubbles.

I find it hard to believe that enough normal people are doing on device inference is driving Mac Mini's out of stock. And even if they were the Mac mini is not actually a very good platform for it.

[awakeasleep]

One aspect you're missing is that people running a claw type agent thing need to run it on a Mac to automate software in the Apple ecosystem.

Neo-Siri in iOS 27 removes the need for a lot of this, but before then, if you want to ask a robot about information that is stored in Apple notes, or to send an iMessage, a Mac mini is your only practical option.

[HaloZero]

What does the new Siri do that circumvents the need for a mac? To access Siri you still need one no?

[awakeasleep]

the new Siri does the apple-ecosystem tasks you would have needed a claw type agent for natively

[Catloafdev]

The demand is not coming from 'normal Apple customers' it's coming from people who want a machine that can run local AI.

It has nothing to do with Macs being especially good at AI. It has everything to do with being one of the last 'cheap' devices being sold with that much unified RAM.

[spiralpolitik]

There are two angles to this. One is that if you want to integrate your agent setup into the Apple ecosystem you need a network connected Mac running 24/7.

The second is that the puck is heading towards local models. The people running their own 'Claws are usually experimenting running their own services either to save money or to explore the future where 95% of requests are handled on device.

[dgellow]

I assume people ask an LLM what to use to run locally, and it suggests a Mac mini

[Lt_Riza_Hawkeye]

I believe it was because it allowed OpenClaw to access iMessage directly

[JKCalhoun]

The people I know getting Mac Minis to run agents (I include myself) are running local LLMs.

[skybrian]

You don’t need a Mac Mini just for that, but they’re fairly inexpensive (or were anyway) and quality is very good. The people who buy them may never use all the performance available, but they’re more interested in convenience than getting the cheapest thing possible.

You can sort of justify it by assuming it will last a long time and they’ll use it for other things, too.

[_glass]

it's only because you can send texts via imessage on a macmini. that's it.

[wiether]

Buying a new computer at +$500 just to have iMessage access feels insane to me.

OpenClaw supports all the mainstream (and free) chat apps like Discord, WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram... None of them requiring a MacOS machine.

Is it a lack of knowledge from the users or do they really value iMessage integration that much?

[hypercube33]

What I don't get is where is the Mac Mini Neo at like $350? Neos tiny motherboard in a box with some more ports would be awesome.

[officeplant]

With how apple seemed to be caught by surprise when it came to Macbook Neo demand, I'm not sure they have the quantities of SoC's around to handle the demand a Mini Neo could drive. Especially if they could do it for $299.

[runako]

I will go out on a limb and say that's not going to be an Apple product, period. It doesn't fit anywhere in the value envelope.

The relevant questions here are: will the person using this machine also conceivably be wearing a pair of $549 AirPod Max? Or a $399 base Apple Watch? Does that person expect to pay more or less for their largest-screen computing device than their headphones?

Framing that way points toward a $350 price point being a laptop for young children (younger than Apple Watch age, so lower elementary). That's a whole different software experience beyond just the hardware.

[api]

A Pi running macOS more or less. Not dissing it though. Killer machine for those who don’t need a lot of power locally. Also a great kiosk for some things.

[robotresearcher]

Apart from the ports, that’s roughly the AppleTV hardware. A macOS or Linux port to that would be a cute thin client. Not gonna happen, but cute.

[xienze]

> Is it a lack of knowledge from the users or do they really value iMessage integration that much?

My understanding is that the barrier to entry to using iMessage makes iMessage a LOT more secure from spam. If you want to do mass iMessages you have to register as a business with Apple, go through all sorts of checks and attestations, etc.

At any rate, iMessages are a lot more trustworthy than SMS. So being able to spam people via iMessage is very desirable. I recall a few months ago a guy posting his little spam-iMessage-as-a-Service product here on HN. You could build your little iMessage spam army using a bunch of Mac Minis...

[moduspol]

It's anecdotal but the kind of people I know that bought Mac Minis for this purpose are what I'd call "light techies." They definitely know how to use an iPhone or a Mac but would struggle on the CLI of a Linux box.

Anyone who wanted the OpenClaw use case that is comfortable with Linux probably already has several Linux machines (including a few Raspberry Pis) on-hand.

[ramijames]

And configuring a bot for Telegram is incredibly easy.

[adi_kurian]

Not even. It's literally "yeah bro, you gotta get a Mac Mini".

[windex]

Yup, for openclaw and APIs you dont need a big PC. I run something lightweight on the RPI4 8gb. Many people run local LLMs which is where a mac is useful. Frankly I dont think you can beat the value of an openrouter subscription and API calls.

[embedding-shape]

> Many people run local LLMs which is where a mac is useful

Unless you go for the very expensive options, most of the Mac Minis really aren't suitable for running local LLMs, they're painfully slow with prefill/processing input, and the models you are able to run don't handle long context very well, which these sort of long-running agents perform very differently with when you can.

I'll agree with your latter point, hard to beat the value of using something like OpenRouter or similar remote inference.

Even with local models, you can run the agent software and the inference workload on different hosts, which is what I'm doing at home. Beefy server responsible for inference, tiny VM on other server is running the actual agent software + RPC + bridges and what not.

[stasomatic]

If you or anyone else don’t mind, I have a have a question or 2.

I use Claude Pro ($20/m) as a glorified search engine (no ads/SEO) plus simple hobbyist dev things (shell scripts, managing my Mac, apps etc.

I also use it for tasks like - “search the web for top ten selling EVs, put them in a table” and then iterate - pivot tables, charts, additional research”. It could be cars, it could be broccoli. Code Work has facilities to streamline this type of work, but I usually drop into the CLI.

How much if any functionality would I need to recreate if I switch to OpenRouter and would be match my costs with the API approach. I don’t want any cost overruns. With Codex or Claude, if I run of tokens, no big deal, I can wait.

Thanks!

[windex]

You should try Google Edge Gallery and Gemma4 on your local pc

[stasomatic]

Thanks, on it!

[fragmede]

You're not getting it on OpenRouter for anywhere near that cheap.

[SoMomentary]

Why not go direct to the source instead of paying an extra 5.5%? Seems like it'd be trivial to have AI wire up connections to your preferred inference providers and save yourself some money over time.

[bdcravens]

If you're referring to the markup charged by OpenRouter, you can use harnesses like OpenClaw/Hermes without it and go direct like you're saying. If you're talking about actually "routing", then you don't get that out of the box. However, the popular use of those harnesses doesn't often use the smart routing approach with a single agent. Instead, the approach is to create multiple agents, each with a role and a model tailored to that role by cost and functionality.

[coffeekid]

Pretty much. Running a local harness calling an llm via APIs doesn't necessarily take a lot of resources. But whatever tasks you want that agent to do via tool calling will be limited by the resources of the machine it runs on if you run those locally, so that's what should inform your choice of specs in this case

[bdcravens]

Correct. You do benefit from some headroom for things like launching browsers etc but refurbs or mini PCs (with at least 16gb; ideally 32gb of memory) from the likes of Minisforum or GMKTec work well enough if you're wanting to spend a little bit of money.

[theplumber]

I do exactly this. You can run the whole thing on a PI. I have actually installed asahi Linux on my Mac and I connect to it remotely so you can be sure I will never upgrade my Mac again because it’s already overbuilt.

[dom3k]

...or any cheap VPS? I now do most of "second brain" things via pi harness with Opencode Go subscription, and it costs me like 20 bucks a year, with added benefit of "you can have tmux and open session realtime on whatever device".