The Apple Mac mini

So Apple's released the details on their new Mac mini, but we know you'd rather see 'em here with all the rest of the gadget goodness, so here you go! (Did we mention their site's been up and down?) So, as you can see, the slick anodized-aluminum box houses a slot-loading drive (DVD/CD-R), DVI (and VGA by included adapter), Ethernet (10/100, not Gigabit, unfortunately), USB 2.0, Firewire, audio out (but no audio in—this is a big deal!), a v.92 56k modem, and is 6 x 6 x 2.5-inches. It will be $499 with a 1.25GHz G4 processor and 40GB hard drive, and $599 with a 1.42GHz CPU and an 80GB drive.

Both will come standard with 256MB RAM, a 32MB ATI Radeon 9200, iLife '05, but can be customized with up to 1GB of RAM, an 80GB drive, integrated Bluetooth and Airport Extreme (what the rest of us call 802.11g WiFi). It should be in stores Jan. 22nd, but some time around Jan. 20th we'll more than likely be getting the first reports of huge supply shortages, and on Jan. 23rd we expect they'll be all sold out—this is going to be a huge seller to Mac first-timers, and a necessity to Mac vets who want a second box in the den. So it goes!