Apple has launched its new energy-saving Mac mini computer in the UK, sporting a slimmer unibody case and a HDMI port for those big-screen home entertainment thrills.
The wee fella now measures just 7.7 inches square by 1.4-inches tall, and usefully gains an SD-card slot, plus a boost in the graphics department, with a snappier NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics card replacing the earlier 9400M number.
Two models
There’s two flavours on offer: the cheaper Mac mini (£649) runs on Mac OS X Snow Leopard and comes with a 2.4-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2 GB RAM and a 320-GB hard drive.
The pricier £929 Mac mini comes with a beefier 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, and racks up 4 GB RAM, two 500-GB hard drives and a 2.66-GHz processor while dumping the optical drive. The machine runs on the OS X Server software.
Green as you like
Both offer FireWire 800, Mini-DVI, four USB ports and Ethernet and feature a removable bottom panel for easy access to RAM.
Apple are also bigging up the Mac mini’s green credentials, claiming that it only burns up ten watts of power while lying idle, while having twice the graphics power of its predecessor.
If you like the sound of all that, then feel free to gorge yourself on some more photos, followed by the full press release from Apple:
Apple Unveils All New Mac mini
CUPERTINO, California—June 15, 2010—Apple® today 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 amazingly compact aluminum enclosure. Mac mini is the world’s most energy efficient desktop and starting at $699, is the most affordable way to enjoy Mac OS® X, iLife® or Mac OS X Snow Leopard® Server.“The sleek, aluminum Mac mini packs great features, versatility and value into an elegant, amazingly compact design,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “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 percent and keeping cable clutter to a minimum. A removable panel underneath provides quick access for memory expansion. Mac mini is incredibly versatile, effortlessly connecting to existing peripherals such as mice, keyboards and digital displays, while the new HDMI output connects Mac mini to an HDTV and the new SD card slot enables easy 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. 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. Mac mini comes standard with a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 320GB hard and 2GB of RAM for $699.
With twice the graphics performance, the new Mac mini is still the world’s most energy efficient desktop.* The new Mac mini reduces power consumption by an incredible 25 percent 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 and 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 Snow Leopard, the world’s most advanced operating system, and iLife, Apple’s innovative suite of applications for managing photos, making movies and creating and learning to play music. Snow Leopard builds on a decade of OS X innovation and success with hundreds of refinements, new core technologies and out of the box support for Microsoft Exchange. iLife features iPhoto®, to easily organize and manage photos; iMovie® with powerful easy-to-use new features such as Precision Editor, video stabilization and advanced drag and drop; and GarageBand® which introduces a whole new way to help you learn to play piano and guitar.
Mac mini with Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server fulfills all the server needs of a workgroup or small business including email, calendar, file serving, Time Machine® backup, Wiki Server, Podcast Producer and more. Mac mini with Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server uses less than 11W of power at idle, a fraction of the power consumed in comparison to typical entry-level tower servers.*** Mac mini with Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server is faster than before with a 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, two 500GB hard drives now running at 7200 rpm, 4GB of RAM and supports unlimited clients for $999.
Pricing & Availability
The new Mac mini is shipping today and will be available through the Apple Store, Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.The Mac mini, for a suggested retail price of $699 (US), includes:
- 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB of shared L2 cache;
- 2GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable up to 8GB;
- a slot-load 8X SuperDrive® (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
- 320GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm;
- NVIDIA GeForce 320M integrated graphics;
- AirPort Extreme® 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
- Gigabit Ethernet;
- four USB 2.0 ports;
- SD card slot;
- one FireWire® 800 port;
- one HDMI port and one Mini DisplayPort;
- HDMI to DVI video adapter;
- combined optical digital audio input/audio line in (minijack); and
- combined optical digital audio output/headphone out (minijack).
Build-to-order options and accessories include up to 8GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, 500GB hard drive running at 5400 rpm, Apple Remote, Aperture™ 3, Final Cut® Express 4, Logic® Express, iWork® (pre-installed), Apple Wireless Keyboard, Magic Mouse, Apple 24 inch LED Cinema Display and the AppleCare® Protection Plan.
The Mac mini with Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server, for a suggested retail price of $999 (US), includes:
- 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB of shared L2 cache;
- 4GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable up to 8GB;
- two 500GB Serial ATA hard drives running at 7200 rpm;
- NVIDIA GeForce 320M integrated graphics;
- AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
- Gigabit Ethernet;
- four USB 2.0 ports;
- SD card slot;
- one FireWire 800 port;
- one HDMI port and one Mini DisplayPort;
- HDMI to DVI video adapter;
- combined optical digital audio input/audio line in (minijack); and
- combined optical digital audio output/headphone out (minijack).
[Apple UK]
