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Apple recently announced an update to the Mac mini, their diminutive desktop computing device. It now boasts an iMac-style aluminum body and several other new features, including an HDMI port and SD card reader.
- 2.4GHz or 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, with a 1066MHz frontside bus and 3MB of L2 cache
- Up to 8GB of memory (accessed through a removable bottom panel)
- 320GB or 500GB hard drive
- NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics with 48 processing cores and 256MB of shared video memory
- Mac OS X Snow Leopard
- All-new, 1.4-inch-thin recyclable aluminum unibody enclosure
- Built-in power “brick”, now just a power cord only
- HDMI port
- Mini DisplayPort
- SD card reader
- 4x USB 2.0 ports
- FireWire port
- Ethernet port
- Audio in/out ports
- Front slot-loading SuperDrive DVDs and CDs
- Starts at $699
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Hmmm, I’m actually very tempted to add this to my basement remodel shopping list. I’d like to hook it up to my soon to own 55″ Samsung LED TV so that I can view Hulu through it…
@Julie – It’s a cute-looking unit, to be sure. And with that new HDMI port…
@Andy Right, the HDMI port really makes it attractive to me.
Nice, but odd that they’re sticking with the Core 2 Duo. Also, I don’t understand the decision to put the SD card slot in the back. It seems counterintuitive, and contrary to Apple’s usual thoughtful design.
@Andy – Totally agree with you on the poor placement of the SD card slot. I guess Apple doesn’t like to have that many “slots” in the front. You know how they like to make things look “clean”. Heck…we’re lucky that they didn’t put the CD slot in the back!! But I did wish they put an SD card slot on the iPad! It’s very annoying to carry around a dongle for that.
Definitely on my “to buy” list once my current media server kicks the bucket.
@Andy, Jackie – That was actually the first thing I thought when I saw the pic of it. I couldn’t believe they put it in the BACK. Who wants to go fishing around to the back of their desktop machine every time they want to pull data from an SD card? At least the newer iMacs have the SD slot on the side. Still and all, a nice, clean-looking design.
I can see an IR receiver on the server model but can’t see one on the desktop version. Unless the little little spot on the right of the optical drive is it.
@Marco – the little dot to the right of the optical drive is the power light. However, it does still appear to have an IR receiver… if you look closely at the front view on Apple’s website, you’ll notice a bit of black plastic *inside* the right edge of the optical drive slot. That’s the IR receiver. This is also where it is located on previous Mac Mini models, but it’s better disguised on this new model.