News site The Register reports that the Mac mini may be hiding a few features, such as a future built-in iPod dock.
The Apple machine's optical drive connects to the motherboard not by a cable but is attached directly to an Ultra ATA-100 riser card which itself fits into a slot toward the rear of the Mini's mobo. According to Leo Bodnar, the guy who figured out how to overclock the Mini's G4-class CPU, that's not all the riser does.
Apparently, it's got a Firewire bus on there too, though there's no connection beyond the riser card itself. In addition to the ATA-100 lines that feed the optical drive, the riser has a connector pinout that takes the Firewire signal and provides a number of other lines, whose functions remain unknown but are likely to carry extra control signals, Leo believes.
The Mini's Agere FW8028 Firewire controller, mounted on the underside of the motherboard, connects direclty to the riser card slot, itself installed on the top of the mobo.
The linked story within The Register's report shows clear pictures of the riser board in question, and the available connectivity in each of the unpopulated connectors. Before the release of the Mac mini, AppleInsider had suggested that the new "headless Mac" would have a built-in iPod dock.
Apple today updated its U.S. trade-in estimates, raising maximum values across the iPad lineup and for most Macs following today's announcement of the new iPad mini.
Every iPad category has gained value, although the increases are relatively modest. The iPad mini and standard iPad both rise by $20, while the iPad Air gains $15 and the iPad Pro increases by $10. The revised maximum estimates...
Tuesday October 20, 2026 7:00 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
As reported by 9to5Mac, Apple is now selling parts for the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, new Mac mini with M6 and M5 Pro chips, and new Mac Studio with M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips on its self-service repair store in the U.S., Canada, and Europe.
After ordering parts and tools, customers with the know-how can follow the steps in Apple's repair manuals for each of these devices, allowing them...
Tuesday October 20, 2026 6:15 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
In a press release focused on its latest American Manufacturing Program commitments today, Apple reiterated that Mac mini assembly in the U.S. will begin later this year, with Foxconn expected to build the computer at a facility in Houston, Texas.
In an interview earlier this year, Apple's operations chief Sabih Khan said that Mac mini units assembled in the U.S. would primarily serve the U.S. ...
