Apple has unveiled a completely redesigned Mac mini, featuring up to twice the graphics performance, a new HDMI port and a new SD card slot, all in an aluminum enclosure. Pricing starts at US$699.
"The sleek, aluminum Mac mini packs great features, versatility and value into an elegant, amazingly compact design," says Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, in a press release. "With twice the graphics performance, HDMI support and industry-leading energy efficiency, customers are going to love the new Mac mini."
Created with the unibody construction process pioneered by Apple, the new Mac mini features a compact aluminum enclosure just 7.7 inches square and 1.4 inches thin. A new integrated power supply eliminates the need for an external power adapter, reducing overall system volume by 20% and keeping cable clutter to a minimum.
A removable panel underneath provides access for memory expansion. The new HDMI output connects the Mac mini to an HDTV and the new SD card slot enables transfer of photos and videos from a digital camera.
Inside its sleek, compact enclosure, the new Mac mini includes the fastest integrated graphics processor on the market today, according to Apple. With 48 processing cores, the Nvidia GeForce 320M graphics processor delivers up to twice the graphics performance of its predecessor, making Mac mini ideal for graphics intensive applications or visually rich games, according to Schiller.
The new Mac mini also purportedly reduces power consumption by 25% to less than 10W at idle, less than half the power required by competing systems. Mac mini meets Energy Star 5.0 requirements and achieves EPEAT Gold status. The new aluminum enclosure is highly recyclable. The Mac mini uses PVC-free components and cables, contains no brominated flame retardants and features material-efficient system and packaging designs.
Mac mini comes with Mac OS X 10.6 ("Snow Leopard") and iLife. You can also get it with Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server to fulfill the server needs of a workgroup or small business including email, calendar, file serving, Time Machine backup, Wiki Server, Podcast Producer and more. The Mac mini with Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server is faster than before with a 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, two 500GB hard drives now running at 7200 rpm, 4GB of RAM and support for unlimited clients for $999.
The new Mac mini is shipping today and will be available through the Apple Store® (http://www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.
Build-to-order options and accessories include up to 8GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, External SuperDrive, Apple Wireless Keyboard, Magic Mouse, Apple 24 inch LED Cinema Display and the AppleCare Protection Plan.
