Confirming earlier rumors, Apple's Mac mini server ditches an optical drive to make room for two 500GB hard disks. It uses Snow Leopard Server, and has the same bumped-up 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo processor as the updated 320GB Mac mini.

The $1000 server includes two 500GB hard disks, 4GB of RAM, and GeForce 9400M graphics. For its part, the 320GB Mac mini stays at $800, but has that new processor, and 4GB of memory (up from 2GB).

It's the $600 entry-level Mac mini that gets the most love. It's got a faster 2.26GHz processor (up from 2GHz), 2GB RAM (up from 1GB), and has 160GB of storage (up from 120GB).

As far as the rumors go: Yep, there is a Mini DisplayPort output. No, there's no Blu-ray. No cheaper option, either. Do you think this is enough to save for the Mac mini from near-irrelevance? [Apple]

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