New Apple Mac mini

f there's one thing Apple used to be good at, it was surprises. Even with the numerous 'leaks' its products have had over the years, the actual devices the Big Fruit reveal – whether at WWDC or elsewhere – have some surprising element to them that us pesky journos had no idea about.

This year that all changed. Gizmodo managed to sniff out the iPhone 4 before release and when it was unveiled, well it looked just like the iPhone 4 they had in their hands.

Luckily today's Mac mini refresh brought us back to the surprising Apple of old. Nobody new the product was coming – it's no-show at this year's WWDC made sure of that.

But now it is here, the new Apple Mac mini which takes style tips from the latest MacBook range, with its stylish uni-body aluminium chassis and its thinness.

At just 1.4 inches, it is the thinnest Mac mini yet. To make up for this apple has added a bit to its width, bringing the total footprint to 7.7 inches.

The most significant addition to the Mac mini is its HDMI slot. Apple has been very wary of adding this now-essential port to its equipment for a while now.

Its arrival on the Mac mini means that it can now easily be hooked up to your HDTV, making it part of your living room setup.

Apple knows that this is something that consumers did with their old Mac mini so they have tried to make it as simple as possible.

Unfortunately, Apple hasn't gone all-out to make this a full-blown multimedia machine. For this to happen it would need a Blu-ray drive, something the Mac mini is sorely missing.

When TechRadar spoke to Apple earlier today though, it did note that this was still primarily a desktop machine.

And if you want to watch hi-def movies, you can download them from the iTunes Store. To paraphrase Pacino: "Just when you thought you were out, they bring you back in."

The other addition to the Mac mini is that of an SD card slot – so those with cameras or camcorders can go straight from card to machine.

A quick look art the specs sheet shows that the Mac mini may be small in stature but it is also big on power.