It was almost hard to keep track of all the new products Apple announced during its October 23 media event, especially when it came to one of the smaller items: the Mac mini. However, the new model, which is already for sale, offers some substantial improvements over its predecessors.
Starting at $599.99, the entry-level Mac mini offers 4GB of memory, with the option to configure directly from Apple with 16GB. This doubles the previous standard of 2GB, which AppleInsider noted was just enough to run OS X Mountain Lion. The entry-level model uses a 2.5 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, while the higher-level models run on 2.3 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processors.
The entry-level model features a 500GB hard drive, while the top tier model includes two 1TB hard drives. However, onlookers are most excited about the mid-tier model, which uses Apple’s hybrid Fusion Drive. The Fusion Drive blends the fast read/write times of solid state storage with the large capacity of a traditional HDD.
A Geekbench benchmark test showed the new models substantially outperform the most recent 2011 Mac minis.
If you’re not quite ready to spring for a new model, it’s easy to enhance your existing Mac mini with a desktop upgrade from iResQ.