Someone combined the iPad mini and the Mac Studio into a desktop dock and it's perfect

Macintosh Studio
(Image credit: Scott Yu-Jan)

Popular YouTuber, artist, and designer Scott Yu-Jan has combined two unlikely Apple products to create one of the most impressive DIY Apple docks we've ever seen. 

Dubbed the 'Macintosh Studio', Yu-Jan's project is a Mac Studio iPad dock inspired by the design of Apple's original Macintosh. In a recent video, he explains how his need for an iPad dock and time spent at his desk had led him to create a 3D printed stand that houses both his tablet and Mac Studio desktop machine. Sealing the deal, he realized that Apple's best iPad for reading, the iPad mini 6, and one of the best Macs, the Mac Studio, are identical in width, a match made in heaven. 

The stunning final product reveals the 3D-printed shell of a Macintosh sat atop the Mac Studio, with cable management built in to keep the iPad fully charged. 

Meet the Macintosh Studio

Thanks to the power of macOS Sonoma and iPadOS 17, screen mirroring allows the iPad mini 6 to serve as a wireless external monitor for the Mac Studio, perfect as a viewing window for YouTube videos or a music player. Of course, it can also be used with an Apple Pencil for sketching or writing ideas down, too. 

Yu-Jan reveals the ingenious design of the shell, which includes a button to safely eject the iPad, a retractable hanger for his AirPods Max, and a rear storage tray for storing his Mac's external hard drives. He even created a colorful version to pay homage to the old iMac G3. 

Naturally, because the Mac Studio and the Mac mini are also the same size, the design can also be tweaked to fit Apple's more diminutive desktop model. Yu-Jan's design is right up there with a 3D-printed Macintosh Plus we reported on last week. That home project involved a $13 computer running a Mini vMAC emulator on Linux. 

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Stephen Warwick
News Editor

Stephen Warwick has written about Apple for five years at iMore and previously elsewhere. He covers all of iMore's latest breaking news regarding all of Apple's products and services, both hardware and software. Stephen has interviewed industry experts in a range of fields including finance, litigation, security, and more. He also specializes in curating and reviewing audio hardware and has experience beyond journalism in sound engineering, production, and design. Before becoming a writer Stephen studied Ancient History at University and also worked at Apple for more than two years. Stephen is also a host on the iMore show, a weekly podcast recorded live that discusses the latest in breaking Apple news, as well as featuring fun trivia about all things Apple. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwarwick9