The tiny unit - half the height of an iPod Mini, according to Steve Jobs -- contains a slot-load Combo optical drive that will burn CDs and play DVDs. It also has FireWire, Ethernet, USB2.0 and analogue and digital output -- DVI/VGA. No keyboard, display or mouse is supplied with the unit. Although it comes with iChat AV, the instant messaging system with audio and video, it has no audio input or microphone as standard. However, it will work with existing USB peripherals, including the iSight camera/microphone and the Griffin iMic audio input adaptor.
The Mac mini also comes with the Panther operating system and iLife 05 software. Other software announced at Macworld included iWork and updates to iMovie,Garageband and iPhoto - the latter adding RAW and MPEG 4 facilities.
Apple also announced the iPod Shuffle, a display-less flash-based music player that weighs an ounce and comes in either 512MB or 1GB sizes for $99 or $149 respectively. With a battery life of 12 hours, the device either picks random songs or uses a playlist set up by iTunes.
For more detailed product information, read our reviews team's preview of the Mac mini.
Apple's new Mac Mini, unveiled on Tuesday at Macworld in San Francisco.
Talkback
I think this is the start of a new era in PCs, just carry the little monster in your pocket, I guess we'll be discrading our laptops in the near future. Good job let's see what Windows based counterparts come out
Its a pity the mac mini is not ready for existing pc users out of the box. You can plug in your existing PC monitor but you cannot plug in your key board and mouse unless you are lucky enough to have USB versions of these.
Nevertheless this is an exciting new development and I as and existing PC am seriously thinking of switching to the mini mac for the first time.
you can get conveters for that.. not that expensive..
seriously.. as a mac user.. i gotta say..
UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS
why wouldn't you have usb? it's called universal for a reason..
Like most users I'm waiting to see what the PC makers do in response to this. Otherwise I'm ready to switch to Mac ASAP.
As a web developer this is excellent. now i can afford to buy a Mac so I can test my websites on. Apple just became golden delicious to me. Sweet.
There must be a manufacturer out there planning to create a range of keyboard/mouse/screen packages to use with the Mac mini.
All in white!!
TR