Be Still My Beating Heart: Apple Rumored to Put HDMI in Mac Mini

[Photo from Apple Insider]

Wanna know how I spent my Saturday? Of course you do, why am I even asking. Well, I got a new part for my truck, and to get it, I had to drive back and forth between downtown and the boonies to borrow another truck. Afterward, I wanted to check out Barnes & Noble to see if a magazine was out, so I stopped by the mall. While I was there, I figured I’d stop by the Apple Store, because, well because I wanted to stop by the Apple Store.

I’ve been debating selling my 20-inch iMac. Why? Well, I don’t use it much anymore, and although it’s a great machine, I’ve been lusting after building a Mac Mini home theater unit for my living room. I just didn’t know what kind of specs I needed to make it happen, so I decided to ask someone at the Apple Store. I was helped out by a very knowledgeable salesperson, who not only knew about the Mini/Home theater concept, but had one of his own. After some discussion, it was determined that a base Mac Mini with a Firewire 800 external drive would work just fine for my situation. We also worked out the HDMI issue for the flat screen, with a Mini Displayport male and USB male/Toslink Audio to HDMI Female converting adapter from Monoprice. I figured that I could easily do the setup for under a grand, and considering the resale price of most iMacs in my area, I could probably get in and out for no money out of pocket.

Which is why I’m posting this information from Apple Insider. Normally, I don’t post things from Apple Insider, mostly because they have a lot of rumors and just from sheer numbers, not all of them are true. But this one I want to be true. They’re saying that Apple will soon be releasing a Mac Mini with an HDMI port to support the Mac Mini media center builder. From the site:

HDMI spotted on Mac mini

More specifically, prototypes of a new Mac mini — Apple’s smallest and most affordable system, commonly employed by tech savvy Mac users as an ad-hoc living room media server, has been making the rounds with an HDMI port in place of its legacy DVI connector, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The port sits besides mini DisplayPort connector and marks the first instance of full-featured HDMI connectivity on a Mac. It also represents only the second Apple product to feature the port outside of the company’s fledgeling Apple TV streaming media device. Cosmetically, the Mac mini is otherwise said to look identical to existing models, with no other visible changes to its enclosure.

Like I said, I’m taking this with a huge grain of salt. But I so badly want it to be true. Could it be? Here’s to hoping.