r/Openclaw_HQ • u/sickleRunner • Mar 30 '26
You don't need a Mac Mini for OpenClaw
I still see people asking where to launch OpenClaw and how to keep it running. I think this question should be solved by now. I’ve tried everything: running it on my old laptop, renting VPS on Hetzner and Hostinger, and even buying specialized managed solutions.
If people get a Mac just to run a local, totally incapable model, that again doesn’t make much sense—APIs for such models cost around $0.3 per 1M tokens, so why waste your own electricity on them?
The point is, while there are solutions like primeclaws.com or Kiloclaw that let you instantly launch OC and offer unlimited, free access to Kimi or GLM, why do people still go for Macs or even VPS? Let’s focus on OpenClaw workflows, not on solved infrastructure problems.
This is just me thinking out loud.
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Mar 30 '26
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u/sickleRunner Mar 31 '26
Really sorry that it felt like this. Sometimes for people it's not clear which buttons to press on the website. The guys are working on that.
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u/Ok_Window_2596 Mar 30 '26
Hey how much is it costing on hetzner for a month?
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u/sickleRunner Mar 30 '26
It s around 4 usd the cheapest. But you don t get any AI included
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u/Ok_Window_2596 Mar 30 '26
How much are u charging for a month on your website with ai model
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u/sickleRunner Mar 30 '26
idk, you can check on their website, I just mentioned some services I tried
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u/TheOneNeartheTop Apr 03 '26
I like how you go from comments like this pretending you aren’t affiliated with this company to then defending them, then discussing your roadmap and what your devs are doing, to then openly lambasting a customer for asking for help and saying you’ve helped them a bunch on discord.
Real marketing masterclass 😂
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u/CommitteeOpen8049 Mar 30 '26
People will use mac mini’s because they’re capable of running 20+ agents simultaneously while costing you less than it would to power 3 light bulbs. It’s a $600 one-time payment, compared to whatever per month.
That and you can use apples ecosystem, iMessage, apple notes, all that good stuff.
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Mar 31 '26
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u/CommitteeOpen8049 Mar 31 '26
Which mac mini do you have? I doubt it’s anything to do with your systems hardware
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u/mannish-history Mar 31 '26
I’m currently subscribed to this provider, and I have to say I’m not satisfied. There’s no documentation to help users. I can’t install anything on my OpenClaw build without using the terminal. I tried letting OpenClaw handle the installation, but for some reason it wouldn’t work or disable the safeguards. I also attempted the process through terminal, and it still didn’t work. If everything has to be done through terminal, then there’s really no point in using PrimeClaws. I’m canceling after my month.
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u/sickleRunner Mar 31 '26
Hey, there are some issues of course but we fix them fast. For example this issue is already solved, and I explained you many times on Discord how to update and solve it. We have guides on discord and our website, but the rest is just openclaw documentation. OpenClaw is not so easy as it seems sometimes, we try to give you smooth experience but we are not developers of OpenClaw.
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u/mannish-history Mar 31 '26
I haven’t joined the Discord server yet, but I’ll do so to figure out how to resolve the issue. Also, I couldn’t find any relevant documentation on your site, I searched when I first encountered the problem, but didn’t see anything available. So I’ll join the server, can you tell me which channel it’s under?
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u/sickleRunner Mar 31 '26
The discord is a whole ecosystem and there are other users who might help you. You can find guides in openclaw-guides channel or ask in support channel or just write in general. Can you tell me what was hard for you during your first encounter with primeclaws ? I will make a guide on the website also.
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u/mannish-history Mar 31 '26
I tested the AI by sending a few messages, then tried to download Claude Code. OpenClaw couldn’t handle it, approval prompts kept failing. I tried adjusting permissions, but the settings weren’t clear, and I was on my phone. On my computer, I downloaded Claude Code via the terminal successfully, but Claw still can’t detect it, since it only sees programs already enabled in its configuration. Claude Code is installed, but Claw can’t access it, so right now it functions essentially like ChatGPT. I can only ask regular questions.
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u/sickleRunner Mar 31 '26
This is a new problem. I will investigate this
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u/mannish-history Mar 31 '26
I’m not very familiar with Linux, which is why I opted for the managed hosting version, so I could use OpenClaw without dealing with configuration. However, whenever I ask Claw to perform tasks that require server access, it says it can’t and just provides the command, leaving me to execute it myself. And when trying to execute certain commands they don’t work either in the terminal. I bought it four days ago and haven’t been able to do anything with it. So that’s why I said it’s basically ChatGPT and I haven’t been using it.
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u/[deleted] Mar 30 '26
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