Trying Hard Not to Slobber!

Has anybody got a spare few hundred quid … ?

Any one … ?

Hello … ?

Because I’ve just found out that Apple have just released the newly updated version of the Mac Mini.

And I’m finding it very hard to not slobber, at the minute, I REALLY am … !!

Because — on top of everything else — Apple really have been some tinkering.

Back when I got hold of my (Mid) 2007 Mac Mini, Apple’s low cost desktop came in two basic forms: a 1.83 GHz model with an 80 Gb hard drive, and a 2.0 GHz model with 120 Gb version, and a SuperDrive. Both were 6.5” square, and 2” thick.

The new version, though … ?

Well …

For starters, Apple have modified the chassis, so that it’s now 7.7” inches square, and 1.4” deep: roughly half an inch wider, all ’round, and half and inch shorter.

Or possibly narrower … …

Hmm …

The new Unibody Mac Mini comes with a 320 Gb hard drive, which is upgradable to 500 Gb, and 2 Gb of RAM: with 2 500 Gb hard drives in the Server edition, and 4 Gb of RAM. The RAM, I should add, is upgradable to 8 Gb, across the line.

Effectively reducing the number of models.

That’s not necessarily caught my eye, initially, though …

Along with that re-designed chassis, Apple have also managed to eliminate the exterior power brick, and put the transformer inside: AND designed the new version of the Mini to plug straight into the wall, with an old fashioned figure of 8 power cord.

Nice move, I think …

And, although the number of USB ports have gone from five down to four, in comparison to the Late 2009 Revision, it still includes both the FireWire 800 port, and the two different monitor connections: a MiniDisplay Port and an HDMI port.

Oh …

And it also now comes with an SD card slot, for those of us who need it.

But the bit that really caught my attention was the revamped Mini’s bottom.

If you’ll forgive the phrase … !

In re-designing the Mini’s chassis, Apple have replaced the two-part chassis that was on every model up to the (Late) 2009 version with one modelled on the MacBookPro unibody chassis, made out of one piece of aluminium.

AND includes a removable base plate, so you can easily upgrade the SO-DIMM RAM.

There’s pro’s and cons, there, I think.

On the up-side?

This means that you can easily upgrade the memory, should you want to. After all, Apple are known for charging slightly more than they need to, for this sort of basic upgrade: it’s also the upgrade that can easily add a lot more ‘oomph’ to any desktop, at not too much cost.

On the downside … ?

Hmmm …

From where I’m sitting, it ALSO looks like doing any other internal upgrades — especially of the hard-drive or optical drives — is made a touch trickier by the new chassis. And as you may or may not know, the interior SuperDrive is something of an issue, for me. Up until the release of the Mac OS X 10•6•3 update, the interior optical drive on my Mini was working fine.

And I’m not the only person to complain about that, going by the forums,

QUITE what the issue exactly is, I still don’t know: I’m just glad I’ve got the exterior drives I have. I’m just hoping Apple have managed to change those interior optical drives: that lack of accessibility could be an issue.

Apple could also have taken the opportunity to include a Blu-ray optical drive in the new version of the Mini, but I think that might have increased the price to something they weren’t comfy with.

The Mini is, after all, supposed to be the accessible model in their desktop range.

But …

The Mac Mini is something of a (much copied) design.

I’ll be honest, and admit to being slightly biased, here: as you know, I’m something of an Apple fan.

So I’ve got to confess, the minute I saw the Unibody version of the Mac Mini, I was dancing around the room, yelling “WOW”.

As I think I mentioned at the start of this post … !