5 of Apple’s Biggest Mac mini Surprises

Apple on Tuesday took the wraps off a bevy of refreshed products and accessories from its Mac and iPad Pro lineups. And while the true stars of the show were arguably the new, powerful and beautifully-designed iPad Pro models, also worth noting is the major Mac mini refresh Apple slipped into its Keynote announcement.

Much to the delight of Mac fanatics who’ve been waiting over four-years now for Apple to show more love to its "mighty but mini" Mac powerhouse, the company (finally) delivered an overhaul that makes the wait well worth it, in retrospect. Continue reading to learn more 5 of the biggest surprises about Apple’s new Mac mini!

5 'Pro' Performance for Less

It was back in October of 2014 when Apple unveiled its last Mac mini refresh, taking the wraps off a slim, sleek and well-rounded aluminum unibody cube which, for just $499, included a paltry Intel Core 2 Duo CPU clocked at 1.4 GHz, with just 4 GB of RAM and a 500 GB SATA Hard Drive.

While the new base-model Mac mini starts out about $300 higher than its predecessor, Apple was able to pack the machine with so much raw power it beyond substantiates the increase.

Specifically, the new Mac mini, at just $799, ships with an 8th-generation Intel i3 Quad-core CPU clocked at 3.6 GHz, with 8 GB of RAM and a much faster 128 GB Solid State Drive (SSD) for storage.

4 Tons of Connectivity Options

The new Mac mini may feature a design and footprint largely unchanged from that of its predecessor, but the really big changes have taken place under the hood.

One of them is a major upgrade to the Mac mini's connectivity options. While the previous model shipped with a standard Ethernet port, two Display Ports, an HDMI 1.0 port, four USB 2.0 ports, a headphone jack and an SD card slot, the new Mac mini upgrades those inputs across the board, replacing them with a new and improved 10Gb Ethernet port, four Thunderbolt 3 ports (USB-C), an HDMI 2.0 port and two USB 3.0 ports along with a headphone jack.

3 Massive Upgradeability

One of the most limiting features of the last Mac mini was that Apple capped its component upgradeability at a fairly low level. You could build the 2014 Mac mini to order with up to 8 GB of RAM, a fourth-generation Intel i5 Quad-core CPU and up to 1 TB of SATA storage.

However the new Mac mini, which Apple has clearly designed and marketed towards desktop power users on a budget, allows for some serious upgradeability that can send the overall cost of the machine into the thousands.

2 The Mightiest, Priciest Mac

Okay, so it’s not quite as expensive as other fully decked-out Mac machines, but still — Mac mini fans will be happy to know that the latest refresh is much more configurable this time around, although that also means prices can climb pretty high.

For example, a fully-equipped Mac mini with the best of every available spec upgrade — a 3.2 GHz Intel Core i7 6-core CPU, 64 GB of RAM, 2 TB of SSD storage and an upgraded 10 Gigabit Ethernet with RJ?45 connector — will run a cool $4,199 (and that’s not even including the monitor, keyboard, and mouse!)

1 Green Construction

Borrowing a page out of its own playbook, Apple decided to offer its latest Mac minis in the same gorgeous black anodized aluminum color that adorns its iMac Pro and Apple TV (4th-generation).

The company announced that the Mac mini (along with other forthcoming Mac computers) are now being constructed using 100% recycled aluminum material, which is sure to bode will with environmental proponents.