Who designed the Aluminum "Unibody" Mac mini?

Apple's industrial design for the last several years has been performed entirely in-house by Apple's Industrial Design Group, led by Jonathan Ive.

Where can I buy an Aluminum "Unibody" Mac mini?

In the US, you may purchase an Aluminum "Unibody" Mac mini directly from Apple, but doing so often will require you to pay sales tax, which on a Mac mini, display, keyboard, and mouse, easily can exceed US$100. Those interested in getting the best deal would be better served by purchasing their Mac mini from an Apple Authorized Reseller that does not charge sales tax, like site sponsor PowerMax.

PowerMax also offers a large selection of refurbished and used systems including Mac mini models.

What are the Aluminum "Unibody" Mac mini default configurations? What custom configurations are available?

For the default configurations, please refer to the specs page for the model of interest as well as the Comparison Q&As section of the Aluminum "Unibody" Mac mini Q&A.

Via custom configuration at the time of purchase, it was possible to upgrade the stock processor in the Mac mini "Core 2 Duo" 2.4 (Mid-2010) to a 2.66 GHz processor for an additional US$150. As requested by readers, EveryMac.com also documents this custom configuration as its own model.

For the current "Mid-2011" Mac mini, it is possible to upgrade the stock processor in the Mac mini "Core i5" 2.5 (Mid-2011) with a 2.7 GHz Core i7 (I7-2620M) processor for an additional US$100. EveryMac.com likewise documents this custom configuration as its own model.

If you are interested in a faster processor, it should be configured at the time of purchase as it is not possible to upgrade it later. It also is possible to upgrade RAM and upgrade the hard drive at the time of purchase, but if you are interested in saving money on RAM and storage upgrades, these can be performed after the initial purchase of the system. Site sponsor OWC sells upgrades for all Aluminum "Unibody" Mac mini systems at affordable prices.

Also see:

• What are all the differences between the "Mid-2011" Aluminum "Unibody" Mac mini models? Which is best for my needs?
• What are all the differences between the "Mid-2011" Aluminum "Unibody" Mac mini models and the "Mid-2010" models replaced?
• What are the differences between the "Mid-2010" Aluminum "Unibody" Mac mini "Core 2 Duo" models?
• What are the differences between the "Mid-2010" Aluminum "Unibody" Mac mini and the "Polycarbonate" Mac mini models replaced?