The third-generation, which was unveiled in June 2010, had a thinner, unibody aluminum case and an HDMI port, and was more readily positioned as a home theater device and an alternative to the Apple TV.

The 2018 fourth-generation Mac Mini model has Thunderbolt, an Intel Core i5 or i7 CPU, and also changed the case's default silver for space gray. This model also has solid-state storage and replaces most of the data ports with USB-C sockets. The fifth-generation lineup, featuring Apple Silicon, was introduced in November 2020 in the original silver style. The fourth-generation model has remained available alongside this.

A server version of the Mac Mini that is bundled with the Server edition of the OS X operating system was offered from 2009 to 2014. The Mac Minis received generally tepid reviews except for the fifth-generation model, which was praised for its compatibility, performance, processor, price, and power efficiencies, though it drew some occasional criticisms for its ports, speaker, integrated graphics, non-user-upgradable RAM and storage, and the expensive cost to buy associated accessories and displays. 5 Fourth generation (Space Gray Unibody).The Mac Mini was modeled on the shape of a standard digital media player, and runs the macOS operating system (previously Mac OS X and OS X). It was initially advertised as 'BYODKM' (Bring Your Own Display, Keyboard, and Mouse), aiming to expand Apple's market-share of customers using other operating systems such as Microsoft Windows and Linux. Mac Mini was the company's only consumer computer that shipped without a paired display, keyboard, and mouse since its original release in 2005.

Ī removable panel was attached to the bottom of the chassis of the Mac Minis to allow for Random Access Memory (RAM) upgrades for the third and the fourth models. The cases does not void the product warranty and broken pieces were not covered. Since the third generation revision in 2010, the Kensington Security Slot and the optical drive were removed from all models, leaving internal storage spaces for either a second internal hard drive or an SSD, which can be ordered from Apple or as an upgrade kit from third party suppliers.

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