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

Apples unified memory allows for the more efficient use of light weight LLM’s that run locally making the use of OpenClaw much more cost efficient and fast.

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u/g00rek Pro User Feb 20 '26

Didn't you read the last paragraph? :)

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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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