Katie MarsalWithout fanfare, Apple Inc. on Tuesday unleashed a stealth refresh to its Mac mini desktop computer, upgraded its high-end Wi-Fi base station, and added a brand new RAID card option to its pro towers.
Although Apple made no mention of the update during its media event or in the ensuing press releases, Apple chief operating officer Tim Cook confirmed the slight refresh during a Q&A session following the company's announcements. The subtle update to the Mac mini is the first in nearly a year.
The 2-inch tall systems are the last to receive a boost to Core 2 Duo processors, moving up from 1.66GHz and 1.83GHz Core Duo processors to 1.83GHz and 2.0GHz chips with a 667MHz system bus, similar to current MacBooks.
Memory and storage have also been upgraded, Apple says. Every model ships with 1GB of RAM, while hard disk space climbs from 60GB to 80GB on the base 1.83GHz model and from 80GB to 120GB for the 2.0GHz computer.
Both systems keep the same $599 (1.83GHz) and $799 (2.0GHz) price points as earlier systems, and are immediately available.
Two peripherals also reached the Apple Store on Tuesday without a separate announcement.
AirPort Extreme revision
The AirPort Extreme Base Station introduced in January now adds gigabit Ethernet without a price hike ($179).
PCI Express RAID card
Meanwhile, Mac Pro buyers can now also outfit their systems with a PCI Express RAID card that provides hardware acceleration for mirrored or striped disk arrays and enables new RAID 0+1 and 5 modes with both mirroring and striping. Previously, the Mac Pro depended on software RAID and was limited to either mirroring or striping alone.
The card adds $999 to the cost of a Mac Pro and, as of Tuesday, isn't available separately for existing Mac Pro users searching for an upgrade.
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60 Comments
Updates to Airport Extreme are always welcome. Is this without an "unlock" pittance attached?
Now if Apple would just add the AppleTV 1.0 ports and software to it I could run EyeTV on it and get rid of my Tivo.
The AirPort Extreme Base Station introduced in January now adds gigabit Ethernet without a price hike ($179).
If only this upgrade had occurred about three weeks ago when I had to replace my dead Netgear Gigabit Wireless N router. I bought an AirPort Extreme to replace it. (Too many reports on the Netgear forums about this router failing exactly as mine did after about 3 to 4 months.)
Ah well...
While AppleInsider remains confident that Apple ultimately intends to phase out the diminutive Mac, the Cupertino-based firm quietly updated existing models with faster processors on Tuesday.
Personally I hope the mac mini stays around for a long while. Sure it could use a better update than what it got, but I personally love my mac mini. It's an AppleTV + DVR (when using EyeTV) + a fully functional computer.
And why must you continue to persist with your idea that the mac mini will be phased out, when you've clearly been proven wrong?
From the point of wanting to keep the product line-up as simple and easy to understand as their products themselves, it might make sense to merge the AppleTV and the Mac mini at some point.