Clawberry vs. Mac Mini
Why spend $600+ on a Mac Mini when you can get a dedicated, plug-and-play OpenClaw device for half the price?
Mac Mini (DIY Setup)
- ❌ Starts at $599+
- ❌ Requires terminal / command line knowledge
- ❌ Must manually configure networking/proxies
- ❌ OS updates can break your AI server
- ❌ Massive overkill for an API gateway
Winner
Clawberry Gateway
- ✅ $299 One-time cost
- ✅ Zero terminal knowledge needed
- ✅ Pre-configured mDNS networking out-of-the-box
- ✅ Bulletproof, stable custom image
- ✅ Purpose-built to run OpenClaw silently 24/7
The Truth About Local AI
Running Large Language Models (LLMs) entirely locally on your hardware requires massive GPUs, which is why people often look at M2/M3 Mac Minis. However, OpenClaw uses an API Gateway architecture. This means the heavy lifting is done by top-tier cloud models (like Claude 3.5 Sonnet) via OpenRouter, while your device securely handles the prompts, memory, chat connections, and dashboard.
Because of this, a Mac Mini is completely unnecessary. The Clawberry device (powered by a customized Raspberry Pi 4) is the perfect, low-power, highly-efficient hardware for this specific task.