Mac mini

The Mac mini is a small desktop computer developed by Apple Inc. Like other Mini-ITX PC designs, it is very small for a desktop computer: 6.5 inches (16.5 cm) square and 2 inches (5.1 cm) tall. It weighs 2.9 pounds (1.31 kg); its external power supply is roughly one third of the size of the computer itself.

The Mac mini is the first Macintosh desktop to not include a keyboard or mouse. (The Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh also shipped without a mouse, however it included a re-positionable touchpad). In addition there is no included display. The primary intended market for the Mac mini was for "switchers" who would already own a display, USB keyboard and mouse, and other customers could easily purchase these if needed.

Product history
The first PowerPC G4-based Mac mini was introduced in January 2005 at the Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco by Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple Computer at the time. It was announced at the same time as the iPod shuffle, both scaled-down and less expensive alternatives to the company's main products in those lines. It was described by Jobs as the "most affordable Mac ever". It has since been updated numerous times with newer processors and system architectures.

As of October 2015, the Mac mini shipped with Apple's OS X 10.11 operating system installed, and also included software such as the Safari web browser and the iLife suite of Apple applications to create and manage videos, music, photos and DVDs. The iWork productivity suite was also included.

On November 10, 2020, Apple announced the new Mac Mini, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro as the first Mac systems to run on an in-house designed chip, the Apple M1. In January 2023, it was updated to support the Apple M2 or M2 Pro chip.

Specifications

 * All changes between models are marked by bold lettering.

Home theater
The Mac mini is also well suited for home theater applications. The small footprint, CD/DVD player, multi-format video output, digital audio output and remote control make it relatively easy to use the Mac mini as part of an entertainment system.

It can be classified as a with some limitations. The Mac mini does not include a tuner card and cannot be upgraded to integrate one internally, instead, external devices like 's HD HomeRun can encode and manage broadcast television from a cable or satellite receiver.

The video connector is compatible with DVI, HDMI (video only), SVGA, S-Video, composite video and component video with the appropriate adapter. Sound is provided by a combination jack that uses both Mini-RCA (analog) and optical fiber cables (digital).

The Mac mini competes with the Apple TV: it has both iTunes for media rental, purchase, and management, and a similar front-end interface with Front Row. The Apple TV is limited to video in the mp4 format, whereas Mini users employing the appropriate QuickTime codecs can watch other video formats like Divx, Xvid, and Mkv without resorting to hacks. The faster of Mac Mini models can display video at a maximum resolution of 1080p, compared to the Apple TV's 720p. The Mac mini can also incorporate third-party front-end applications like, , and. Unlike the Apple TV, the Mac mini is backward compatible with televisions that have only composite or S-Video inputs.