A Wired report is making waves on the Internet claiming that an upgraded Mac mini is on track for a January 2009 release. Allegedly, the launch will take place at Apple's Macworld Expo in San Francisco, according to the Apple corporate employee.

“The source, who wished to remain anonymous (to keep his job), could not disclose details about the Mac Mini other than its upcoming announcement at Macworld Expo, which begins Jan. 5 ... where CEO Steve Jobs traditionally launches major products during his famous keynotes,” the report states. The source goes on to mention that the Mac Mini will sport a silver enclosure composed of a block of aluminum, similar to Apple's notebooks.

Furthermore, some of the internal parts of the new mini will be PVC-free, reflecting the company's ongoing commitment to remove as many toxic materials as possible from its products. In fact, based on this accomplishment, plus the computer's small size and low power requirements, Apple will allegedly tout the new mini as the “greenest Mac ever.” Sounds just about right. What else?

“For video output, the Mac Mini will use the DRM-crippled DisplayPort for connectivity, which Apple is offering to manufacturers for a no-fee license,” the features list continues.

“It'll have a CD-DVD slot loader (i.e. Super Drive). There will be no Blu-ray player, because Steve Jobs believes the format is a 'bag of hurt',” the report mentions. “It'll ship with 2 GB of RAM, expandable to 4 GB — up from the current 1 GB, expandable to 2 GB,” Wired says, based on the leaked information. Moreover, thanks to the new aluminum case, users should be able to expand the computer's RAM much easier than before, the source points out.

Additionally, the list of enhancements mentions the following:

- will ship with at least a 160-GB hard drive;
- will come in two options with different processor speeds: a 2.0-GHz Core 2 Duo and a 2.3-GHz Core 2 Duo (up from 1.83 GHz and 2.0 GHz);
- will ship with an Nvidia video card, making it a computer suitable for gaming as well;
- will ship with an Intel video card (believed to be the GMA X3100 graphics card found in the low-end, white MacBook);

Anything else you wanted added in the new Mac mini, or is this already too good to be true? Tell us what you think.