The Apple Mac mini "Core i7" 2.0 Server (Mid-2011) is powered by a 32-nm "Sandy Bridge" Quad Core 2.0 GHz Intel "Core i7" (2635QM) processor, with four independent "cores" on a single chip and a 6 MB shared L3 cache. It includes 4 GB of 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM (PC3-10600), dual 500 GB hard drives, and Intel HD Graphics 3000 that shares 384 MB of system memory. An internal optical drive is not present, though an external one was available for US$79.
Connectivity features a Firewire "800" port, four USB 2.0 ports, combined "audio line in (digital/analog)" and "audio line out/headphone (digital/analog)" minijacks, a Gigabit Ethernet port, 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 4.0. It also offers an SDXC card slot, an HDMI port, and a "Thunderbolt" port. This port is backward compatible with Mini DisplayPort, supports a 2560x1600 external display with audio, and allows for peripherals using the Thunderbolt standard for up to 10 Gbps of bidirectional bandwidth.
Compared to its predecessor, the only external change is the addition of the Thunderbolt port, though it is also slightly heavier. Internally, it boasts a faster processor, architecture, RAM, and graphics, along with improved wireless capabilities.
When compared to the non-server Mac mini "Core i7" 2.7 (Mid-2011), this model looks identical but is equipped with a more powerful quad-core processor and dual hard drives, and it came with a pre-installed copy of Lion Server.