Apple unveils new Mac mini

Anthony Caruana
Tuesday, 15 June 2010 20:24

Your IT - Mobility

Apple has unveiled a completely redesigned Mac mini. With up to twice the graphics performance, a HDMI port and an SD card slot trhe casing has been redesigned to look more like the Apple TV with a DVD slot. In fact, perhaps this is the beginning of the end for the Apple TV.

Like most of Apple's other systems, the Mac mini has a unibody construction that's just 19.7 centimetres square and 3.6 centimetres tall. An integrated power supply eliminates the need for an external power adapter and reduces overall system volume by 20 percent and reduces cable clutter.

Previous Mac minis were notoriously difficult to upgrade but the addition of a removable panel underneath provides quick access for memory expansion. The new HDMI output connects Mac mini to an HDTV and the SD card slot makes it easy to transfer photos and videos from a digital camera. These changes make the new Mac mini a great candidate for duty as a home theatre PC.

Apple, in typical hyberbolic fashion, boasts that the new Mac mini has the fastest integrated graphics processor on the market today, the NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics processor delivers up to twice the graphics performance of its predecessor. The Mac mini comes standard with a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 320GB hard drive and 2GB of RAM. Like all macs it comes with Snow Leopard, the iLife suite and basic applications like Mail and iCal that support connectivity to Exchange servers.

A variant of the Mac mini with Snow Leopard Server has a 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, two 500GB hard drives running at 7200 rpm and 4GB of RAM.