It sits on a palm-sized, circular, plastic base that can be twisted open for quick access to internal components such as the RAM. and feels absolutely solid - as it should, considering that it is cut from a single block of aluminum using Apple’s patented unibody-carving techniques. high and retains the squat 7.7-in.-square aluminum shape that arrived last year, a big improvement over the earlier white plastic/aluminum model. That changed in July, when the newest Mini received significant upgrades - including some serious speed enhancements - as well as an interesting subtraction or two, one of which might be a deal-breaker for some potential buyers. In the past, this usually meant settling for older components - especially compared to the pricier iMac and MacBook Pro lines.Īlthough Apple has updated the Mini’s look several times since its debut - most recently in 2010 - the internal hardware often received only minor improvements. Since its unveiling in January 2005, the Mac Mini has been the cheapest Mac that Apple sells, making it the least expensive way to get hardware that natively runs OS X.
