Apple's Mac Mini Is Having a Moment, Thanks to the OpenClaw Craze - Business Insider
It's the Mac Mini's moment, thanks to the OpenClaw craze
By Jordan Hart
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The Mac Mini is benefiting from the OpenClaw craze. Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto
2026-02-19T10:45:02.419Z
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Apple's small but mighty Mac Mini is flying off the shelves.
The sudden increase in demand is confusing some store workers, who are wondering why now?
In a TikTok videoposted February 9, an employee can be heard telling a customer at Best Buy: "I don't know what's with the Mac Mini, everyone keeps buying them a lot. Is this some AI thing?"
Yes, it is an AI thing, and it's giving the Mac Mini a moment with tech enthusiasts.
“is this some AI thing??” me trying to explain to Best Buy employees why everyone is coming in to buy the Mac mini #ai #openclaw #clawdbot
OpenClaw is a rapidly evolving, open-source, autonomous AI agent previously known as Clawdbot or Moltbolt. Its creator, Peter Steinberger, recently joined OpenAI after being courted by AI CEOs, including Sam Altman and Meta's Mark Zuckerberg. OpenClaw can organize users' schedules, monitor vibe-coding sessions, and run other AI agents. It can also be locally run on your computer, which can eat up a lot of memory. That's driven a bit of a frenzy for devices with higher memory, like some Mac Minis.
People are buying up the 5"-by-5" computer at a pace Apple can't seem to keep up with, as the tech giant shows weekslong wait times for the higher-memory Mac Minis. New York-based shoppers, for example, can get the 16-gigabyte Mac Mini by this weekend, while the 24-gigabyte and 32-gigabyte options have shipping and pick-up windows that extend until March 18, as of Wednesday afternoon.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Custom and higher-memory configurations often take longer to ship, but the online buzz around the Mac Mini and OpenClaw is easy to link.
Resellers on eBay are also trying to cash in on the hype. There are dozens of new Mac Mini listings asking for the retail price or more for brand-new and pre-owned computers.
Before you snap up your M4 chip Mac Mini, you might consider waiting for a new wave of devices to drop. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, known for his inside information on Apple, reported that new Mac computers, including a new mini, are expected in 2026.
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Jordan is a Reporter covering trending business news. She's passionate about stories relating to retail, Gen Z professionals, and the latest trends in and out of the office. She graduated from the University of Houston with a degree in print journalism.Story highlights:Gen Z employees are influencing more casual language around the office. Here's a breakdown of the jargon.I barely lasted one week after trading my iPhone for a 'dumb' phone This UPS driver's video breaking down his weekly paycheck has nearly 12 million views I got the $600 Dyson hair dryer that TikTok loves — and it seriously leveled up how I style my curly hairI tried the viral decorating AI RoomGPT on my boring living room. It added a pool in my apartment.'Corporate goths' are wearing their fishnets and eyeliner to work — and they're not apologizing for expressing themselves