14 DAY TRIAL // We're passing this with a spoon full of salt, even though rumors accompanied by imagery tend to be more credible. This leaked picture of what seems to be the new Mac mini says that Apple has somehow decided that more USB ports were necessary, as well as two display connectors.
That's not all. Not very credible changes are (allegedly) present under the hood as well. The Register has picked up on this photo that you can see (enlarged) below, pointing out to the five USB ports, FireWire 800 and Ethernet ports, audio-in and -out ports, and two display connectors - a Mini DisplayPort and a Mini DVI port. Audio Line-in and Line-out ports are also present on the alleged new machine.
While some of those ports are already a stretch, “the original leaker, who identified him or herself as 'monthy', claimed the Mac mini's specs include a 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 3MB L2 cache, 2GB of DDR3 RAM, and that the 'Super Drive is SATA',” the report reads.
The source doesn't believe Apple needs to beef up on the mini's RAM – although we don't see how that cannot happen with a Mac mini upgrade – nor does it think that SuperDrive will be changed from the current ATA DVD-RW drive. But hey, you never know. So, here's a close-up of what might (not) be the next-gen Mac mini.
Comment: purported new Mac mini Credits: monthy via MacRumors
OK, so that's for the rumor-mini's specs. Now, let's look at what the currently available Mac mini has to offer - entry-level configuration. Lights please!
Comment: Apple's currently available Mac mini Credits: Apple
Processor and memory
- 1.83GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor - 2MB on-chip L2 cache - 667MHz frontside bus - 1GB of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300) on two SO-DIMMs (supports up to 2GB)
Storage
- 80GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA hard disk drive (optional 160GB drive2)
Optical
- Slot-loading Combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW): reads DVDs at up to 8x speed, writes CD-R discs at up to 24x speed, writes CD-RW discs at up to 16x speed, reads CDs at up to 24x speed
Peripheral connections
- One FireWire 400 port (8 watts) - Four USB 2.0 ports (up to 480 Mbps)
Audio
- Built-in speaker - Combined optical digital audio input/audio line in (minijack) - Combined optical digital audio output/headphone out (minijack).
All this (and more) is available for $500 American. Now, who says that those rumored specs would up the price on the Mac mini? The white MacBook just got NVIDIA love and more RAM, and you can still get one for the same $999 price. And if they don't increase the mini's price, why wouldn't they materialize? (Well, except for the two display connectors, that is.)
You give the verdict on this rumor: true or false?