You may have woken up with credit card in hand to place a pre-order for iPhone 4, but a visit to the Apple store this morning has unearthed another new surprise in the form of a redesigned Mac mini.
Apple's tiny desktop solution - marketed as both the "world's most energy efficient desktop" and the "most affordable" route to Mac OS X - has been put through the unibody construction process and looks sleeker than ever.
Contrary to recent speculation, Apple's decision to revamp the Mac mini suggests there's plenty of life in the entry-level unit.
Measuring just 3.6cm in height, the mini's aluminium frame is almost twice as thin as the original 2005 design but manages to squeeze in more features and better performance.
Inside, the Mac mini comes armed with a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of memory, a 320GB hard disk and NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics. The latter facilitates a new HDMI port - which finally makes the Mac mini a potential living room solution - and Apple's thrown in an SD card slot, as well as Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth 2.1 and Wireless N connectivity.
Not by any means a powerhouse, but Apple's compact design may win over consumers. Measuring 19.7cm wide, the new-look Mac mini is able to house an integrated power supply to reduce external clutter and features a removable bottom panel that allows easy access for hard drive or memory upgrades.
Power consumption, too, is said to be reduced to less than 10W at idle - a 25 per cent improvement over the previous-generation model, says Apple.
For small business users, Apple also offers a model equipped with Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server. The Mac mini server ships with a quicker 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of RAM and loses the slot-loading optical drive in favour of dual 500GB hard disks.
The new Mac mini is available now priced at £649, whilst the Mac mini with Snow Leopard Server fetches £929.
Press release: Apple Unveils All New Mac mini
