The first Macintosh was released in 1984, and it helped kick off a new era of home computers with graphical interfaces. It had a built-in CRT monitor and a front floppy drive, and its design came to become iconic over the course of the following decades. If you’re one to feel nostalgic about the days gone, this tiny computer might be just what you need in your life.

Ayaneo, a company that’s mostly known for portable gaming consoles (some of which compete with the Steam Deck), has launched the AM01, a tiny PC that’s directly inspired by the design of the old Macintosh. The obvious thing we need to talk about is the design: it’s not quite a Macintosh. Rather, it looks like a flat case with a small motherboard, and the module that resembles the screen is not a real screen—even if the company wanted to add a screen, the computer is just too tiny for that, so if it was functional you’d probably find yourself squinting to look at it anyway. The case itself is just over 5 inches wide and tall, and roughly 2.5 inches thick. It’s a cute design, but that’s about it.

If you were hoping for high-end hardware in this tiny package, you’ll be dissapointed. Unlike with its handhelds, Ayaneo opted to use slightly older internals here. For the processor, it starts at a Ryzen 3 3200U, an older AMD CPU using the company’s Zen+ 12nm architecture. The higher-end models are much better off, with a much more capable Ryzen 7 5700U powering the most powerful models. You can also get up to 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD.

The computer is being sold on Indiegogo, with the base model costing $149 and the most powerful model, with 32GB of RAM, costing $379. That’s not too expensive given the hardware available, so that’s one thing it has going for it, but it’s also an “early-bird” price, so it could very well go up down the road. If you want to check it out, make sure to get it now that it’s cheap.

Source: Engadget