Rumors have been bandied about in the blogosphere regarding the anticipated Mac mini revision. Well, the wait is over and the new 1.5GHz (formerly 1.42GHz) and 1.33GHz (formerly 1.25GHz) models are now shipping.
What else do you get in the revised models?
- An updated Boot ROM version 4.9.4f0
- Hard drives were upgraded to 5,400-rpm models
- The SuperDrive equipped Mac mini features a new 8x dual-layer SuperDrive from Matshita (Panasonic), which supports 5x DVD-RAM burning along with 8x DVD+/-R support, 4x DVD+/-RW support, and 24x CD-R Support. DVD-RAM support is not enabled on the Apple drive, however.
- The graphics card is still the ATI Radeon 9200, but now has 64MB VRAM at 64MB (up from 32MB). However, it still cannot support Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger’s Core Image technology.
- The new Mac mini features Bluetooth 2.0+EDR support.
The update to the Mac mini is pretty minor. But there were some surprises – don’t be alarmed if the outer box has is mislabeled with the older configuration!
Apparently, the box labels will continue to list the older specifications without any indication if there is a newer or older system inside. The theory is that it will help Apple to clear out current inventory without lowering prices.
Essentially, they are promising customers that the Mac mini they purchase will include specifications “at least” equal to the label, but that their system may exceed those. However, if you ended up with the “older configuration,” you can’t return the system in the hopes of getting the newer configuration without paying a restocking fee.
