![The LEGO-lookalike displaying [Paul]'s dashboard](https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-04-at-14-08-38-Watt-IV-–-the-M2x2.png?w=800)
There’s just something delightful about scaled items. Big things shrunk down, like LEGO’s teeny tiny terminal brick? Delightful. Taking that terminal brick and scaling it back to a full-sized computer? Even better. That’s what designer [Paul Staal] has done with his M2x2 project.
In spite of the name, it actually has a Mac Mini M4 as its powerful beating heart. An M2 might have been more on-brand, but it’s probably a case of wanting the most horsepower possible in what [Paul] apparently uses as his main workstation these days. The build itself is simple, but has some great design details. As you probably expected, the case is 3D printed. You may not have expected that he can use the left stud as a volume control, thanks to an IKEA Symfonisk remote hidden beneath. The right stud comes off to allow access to a wireless charger.
The 7″ screen can display anything, but [Paul] mostly uses it either for a custom home assistant dashboard, or to display an equalizer, both loosely styled after ‘screen’ on the original brick. We have to admit, as cool as it looked with the minifigs back in the day, that sharp angle to the screen isn’t exactly ergonomic for humans.
Perhaps the best detail was putting LEGO-compatible studs on top of the 10:1 scaled up studs, so the brick that inspired the project can sit securely atop its scion. [Paul] has provided a detailed build guide and the STLs necessary to print off a brick, should anyone want to put one of these nostalgic machines on their own desk.
We’ve covered the LEGO computer brick before, but going the other way–putting a microcontroller and display in the brick it to run DOOM. We’ve also seen it scaled up before, but that project was a bit more modest in size and computing power.
Nostalgic!
I don’t understand this article. Is it about a LEGO™ brick placed on a computer?
It is a scaled up replica of an old LEGO brick that was shaped and painted to look like a computer display.
Well, it’s a working computer (a Mac mini, with 7″ LCD screen) built inside a scaled-up replica of an old LEGO “computer terminal” brick from their space collection.
“An M2 might have been more on-brand”
The projects name is M2x2, and the mini is an M4. 2×2=4.
I find the name and choice quiet clever ;)
Great, now use the screen as UI for pybricks (alternative firmware for “smart” Lego bricks, runs on LEGO® BOOST, City, Technic, MINDSTORMS®, SPIKE® and now even EV3 platforms)
http://pybricks.com
Very cool, but upscaled Lego is supposed to be 6:1 (that’s what the official upscaled minifigs are)
Wouldn’t that make them maxifigs, or at least figs? (The Muppet Show had a gag about Miss Piggy and Kermit having a family of bouncing baby figs, but I digress.)
Also, were I to replicate the OP’s project I’d have the display in Okudagrams, which might be mixing the streams but I think would cool.
I suspect the OP skipped the 6:1 upscale because at his chosen 10:1 it’s still only a 7″ screen, which most would find rather small these days. I’m not sure how well the Mac Mini would fit in a 6:1 version, either.
I’d argue with you you can upscale to a great many scales legitimately – between Duplo, Quatro, the soft bricks and all the scaled up merchandise there are many ratios used by Lego themselves.
A very very similar project to this is actually one of the things I’m working on right now but to a scale that fits mini-itx (as I do really need a case for some Mini-ITX boards), unfortunately its been paused a while as the weather has been too poor to do the metal work outside (as I currently really need to do) and before the weather turned bad probably all the way back last spring more important stuff turned up to spoil the fun project… But so far at least looks like this year I’ll be able to get on with this one.
I actually have a few 1 stud bricks I printed to check fit and get the clutch power in the right ballpark sitting on my desk – I found that making 1 stud in my brick match the 2×2 of the soft brick or 3×3 on the quatro worked out really well, put an insert in the bottom to varied depths so the thinnest part which is the final wall thickness will register nicely with Duplo, then Duplo stud height up from the bottom the next layer will grip quatro and the soft bricks, with a layer on top of that above the soft brick studs to grip to this scale stud.