Mac mini users love their machines’ tiny footprints, but there are few expansion options that precisely match the look and size of Apple’s smallest computers. That’s what makes Newer Technology’s latest miniStack ($90+) an appealing option. Similar to the miniStack Max we saw at the 2012 CES—which incidentally still isn’t available yet—miniStack is an aluminum hard drive enclosure designed to fit underneath a mini, but compatible with any Mac. For $160, it comes with 500GB of storage capacity, while the aluminum enclosure is available without a drive inside for $90.
NewerTech offers miniStack with up to 4TB of hard drive space for $480. Each miniStack includes two FireWire 800 ports, a USB 3.0 output, and an eSATA connector for fast transfer speeds, although the company kept the cost down by leaving out Thunderbolt. As the name suggests, you can pile miniStacks on top of each other, daisy chaining them together with FireWire on machines that still have that port.
