Mac mini Late 2005

Officially, the Apple Mac mini G4/1.5 does not exist, as Apple never formally announced it. However, starting on September 27, 2005, Apple silently upgraded the Mac mini G4/1.42. The update included a 1.5 GHz PowerPC 7447a (G4) processor with the AltiVec "Velocity Engine" and a 512k on-chip L2 cache, 512 MB of 333 MHz PC2700 DDR SDRAM, a faster 5400 RPM 80.0 GB Ultra ATA/100 hard drive, and a slot-loading 8X DVD/CD-RW "Combo" Drive in the US$599 configuration, or a faster, dual-layer read 8X DVD±RW/CD-RW "SuperDrive" in the US$699 configuration.

The ATI Radeon 9200 graphics processor (4X AGP) was also upgraded from 32 MB to 64 MB of DDR SDRAM. Similar to the model it replaced, connectivity included DVI (with a provided DVI-to-VGA adapter), USB 2.0, FireWire, a headphone/line out jack, and AirPort Extreme (802.11g). The Bluetooth was also quietly updated to 2.0+EDR. A modem was not provided, but an internal one could still be added for US$29. It continued to ship without a display, keyboard, or mouse.

The silently upgraded 1.5GHz Mac mini G4 was the most powerful and refined version of the PowerPC-based mini, though its existence was never formally acknowledged by Apple. It was evaluated as a significant improvement, with the most notable upgrade being the doubling of the graphics memory to 64MB. This provided a much-needed boost to graphics performance, making the user interface feel snappier and improving the machine's ability to handle visual tasks. Combined with a faster processor and a speedier hard drive, it represented the best that the G4 mini platform had to offer. It was the most capable and well-rounded version of the original Mac mini, arriving just before the major architectural shift to Intel. For those who bought it, it was a pleasant and powerful surprise, a fitting final chapter for the G4 era in Apple's most compact desktop.