Apple releases an optical-less Mac mini

The Mac mini that we’ve all grown to love over the years has gotten some much needed attention from Apple today. The machine now comes complete with iCore processors, better discrete graphics, Thunderbolt, and Lion built right in.

But here’s the biggest change: there’s no SuperDrive. Apple’s taken a cue from the MacBook Air, and has now brought its first optical-less desktop to the masses. We should point out that the Mac mini Server edition didn’t have a SuperDrive leading up to this point, so it was probably only a matter of time until the Mac mini shed its drive as well.

Under the hood the Mac mini has a dual-core Intel Core i5 or Intel Core processor, and an AMD Radeon HD 6630HD integrated graphics chipset. The mini can be configured on checkout to have up to 8 GBs of RAM and a 256 GB solid state drive, should users need them.

It’s available today online, and at Apple Retail Stores.

Joshua is the Content Marketing Manager at BuySellAds. He’s also the founder of Macgasm.net. And since all that doesn’t quite give him enough content to wrangle, he’s also a technology journalist in his spare time, with bylines at PCWorld, Macworld and TechHive.