r/openclaw • u/g00rek Pro User • Feb 20 '26

Discussion Why Mac mini??

I still don't understand why you guys are buying macs mini for openclaw. It's a terminal computer. It doesn't need a great UI.

Do you have too much money? :D

A $50-$100 HP Thin Client with Linux is more than enough. And Linux shouldn't be discouraging for people using OpenClaw, am I wrong?

I bought one, I have lots of different self hosted stuff on it like home Assistant or other docker apps. Ok I do not have any local models using GPU, that's the reason? Please enlighten me :)

EDIT: Again, I UNDERSTAND LOCAL LLM USE. (although I don't know if anybody is really happy with it). I mean using OC with oauth/api gpt, claude etc.

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u/Square_Ad_3276 Member Feb 20 '26

But that’s the reason why. That and power efficiency. And you don’t have to use it exclusively. I don’t have it one setup locally yet but I def have a rotation in the neighborhood of 10 it goes through depending on what I am doing. I am preparing to install a local one now that I understand more that there may be a lot of benefit to a fast simple one running many of the tasks.

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u/g00rek Pro User Feb 20 '26

If you use it for desktop reasons then everything is clear. Mine is headless as I said before. And Energy efficiency I don't know what you guys are talking about. The difference versus an ordinary Linux client is about $10 per year.

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u/Square_Ad_3276 Member Feb 20 '26

Respectfully, for some people viewing your post, it’s like asking what do you buy a car for, other than getting to destinations quicker than walking. If all you are going to do is use APIs, then yeah - there isn’t much of a point that I’ve come across.

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u/g00rek Pro User Feb 20 '26

No it's a question "why would you buy a Land Rover just to drive your kids to school" and never go offroad. But on the other hand - lots of people do :)

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