pico-mac-nano is a glorious teeny-tiny replica of the original Macintosh

Here’s a fun one for Mac nostalgia fans: a new project by hobbyist Nick Gillard has taken the idea of mini retro builds to a whole micro level.

Called the pico-mac-nano, this is a working replica of the original Macintosh that stands just 62 millimeters tall (that’s 2.4 inches for you, Casey Liss). And what’s more, you can actually run MacPaint and MacWrite on it.

How awesome is that?

The project (via BoingBoing) builds on an earlier open-source emulator by Matt Evans, who had already managed to get a Raspberry Pi Pico running System 1. Gillard took that idea and ran with it, packing it into a shockingly faithful 3D-printed case, complete with a tiny rainbow Apple logo and even a scale replica of the original Picasso-style shipping box.

“I just couldn’t resist creating a matching, tiny version of the iconic ‘Picasso’ box that the original 128K Macintosh shipped in. After finally finding a manufacturer (in India!) and having the first batch back, I’m super-happy with the result; a white, full colour printed, corrugated cardboard box.”

The guts of the machine are made of a Pi Pico microcontroller, a 2-inch 480×640 TFT screen configured to match the original Mac’s 512×342 resolution, and a speaker capable of those signature startup chimes. Everything runs off a custom firmware that emulates a 68000 CPU, all open-sourced and shared on GitHub.

The result is a perfect desktop curiosity you can gift yourself on a special occasion or, if you’re one of these DIY creatures, build on your own. Gillard says he’ll be selling a few pre-assembled kits soon, but if you’re the DIY type, you can also grab the STL files, firmware, and a full parts list for your next weekend project over at 1BitRainbow.com.