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New Mac Mini?

Last week someone posted a picture on the MacRumors.com forum of what purports to be the eagerly-anticipated-but-not-yet-actually-announced Mac Mini revision. Thing is, no-one seemed to believe the picture was real.

Mac Mini backs Current model Vs Supposed revision

Rik Myslewski at The Register found it “fishy” because the specs leaked alongside the photo claim 2GB RAM, a SATA optical drive and the inclusion of 2 video ports, but mainly because he’s following the analysts that reckon Apple won’t announce new models in today’s economic climate where products that “woo” don’t necessarily become products that sell.

Stewart Meagher at The Inquirer questioned the double video ports too but also the inclusion of a FireWire800 socket. His main reason for calling “Photoshop shenanigans!” though was that the left-most USB port looks like a copy-paste job of the 2nd left-most.

And me? Oh, i was skeptical and in complete agreement that having 2 video outputs is very odd (especially as Steve Jobs’ Apple has never really been about giving the customer choices) but not really convinced by the other complaints. 2GB RAM sounds right to me given that the recently revised entry-level MacBook has that much, a SATA optical drive is now probably cheaper than an IDE one, FireWire support may have been dropped from the MacBooks but still exists on the MacBook Pros (and we’ve no evidence yet to say one way or the other about its fate on the desktop lines) and, if anything, surely Apple has to refresh its budget offering with the global economy what it is. No, my skepticism was based on nothing more than those two video ports and that additional USB port (why would Apple add a fifth when 4 is quite generous by their standards anyway?). In other words, my reasons were no better than anyone else’s. Yet we all maintained in was a fake.

And then the poster of the original photo went and killed off all accusations of Photoshoppery by providing a video clip. That silenced a few people and made believers of a few more. Now for this to be a fake it has to be some sort of elaborate, and very well done, modding of an existing Mini. Yet still the general consensus (and i’m still including myself here) seems to be that it’s all bullplop.

Why is that though? Why can’t we accept it? Is it because there’s something very “un-Apple” about that design? (the 5th USB port for me!) Or is it just because we’re jealous of this guy who has one? Is it because this can be attributed to a person that we feel compelled to dismiss it? Had this photo just been emailed to MacRumors.com and listed on the site as a photo from an anonymous source, would we all just believe it was the new Mac Mini? It’s difficult to say. Hopefully it won’t be too long before an Apple announcement tells us whether this is real or fake though…