Apple’s ‘mini’ event rumors: New Mac mini, 13″ Retina MacBook Pro, and iPad Mini

We do our best to follow all of the latest Apple October 23rd rumors, including a new Mac mini, a 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro, and the iPad mini.

This week is off to a flying start with several Apple rumors already “confirmed,” including new Mac minis, a 13-inch MacBook Pro with a Retina display, a curvy iMac, and an iPad Mini price list for good measure. All of these products are rumored to be announced at a press conference many think will happen on Oct. 23rd. From the looks of it, Apple may announce a number of smaller, ‘mini’ products at the event

New Mac Mini’s coming

Big fan of Apple’s tiny little Mac? You’re in luck. A new rumor from 9t05Mac points to new versions of the Mac mini rearing their adorable little heads at Apple’s rumored October 23rd event. Supposedly, the new Macs will come in two configurations, with varying memory and processor options as well as a third model for those who want to run OS X Server. Rumor has it that they’ll start shipping immediately after the announcement. Apple hasn’t updated the Mac mini in more than a year.

We assume that the new mini will get some form of visual refresh, but it’s hard to imagine Apple making it a whole lot smaller than it already is. Maybe we’ll get a Mac micro?

13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display

9to5Mac has also heard from a “consistently reliable source” that Apple will introduced a Retina display-equipped 13-inch MacBook Pro during the iPad Mini’s launch event later this month. It will apparently be thinner and lighter, and offer different combinations of processors and storage options too.

Macrumors.com has found a few potential features for the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro on a Chinese website, which claims the smaller computer will still have two Thunderbolt ports, a USB port, a headphone socket, an HDMI-out and an SD card reader; just like its bigger brother. There’s also talk of an interesting battery design — although it’s not elaborated upon — and the report is accompanied by a couple of pictures that, frankly, could show absolutely anything.

Before we move on, it’s best to clarify that we’re talking about a product that doesn’t exist being launched at an event that hasn’t been announced for another non-existent product. That said, it’s logical for Apple to produce a 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro, but at the moment we don’t know when that will happen.

A curvy iMac

The curvy iMac rumors seems to originate from the same Chinese website, where it’s said that the new model will have a curved shell that’s something like “a water droplet,” which sounds more like Samsung’s design philosophy than Apple’s. Naturally, it too is going to arrive at the small “intimate” event apparently set for October 23.

iPad Mini prices

Finally, we’re onto the event’s main attraction, the iPad Mini. A picture supposedly showing a list of iPad Minis that will possibly be stocked by German electronics retailer MediaMarkt has been leaked, complete with prices and basic specs. In addition to the usual 16, 32 and 64GB models, an 8GB iPad Mini may appear. Each version will have the choice of a black or white finish, and either Wi-Fi only or “cellular” and Wi-Fi.

The most basic 8GB Wi-Fi iPad Mini is priced at 250 euros, and the top 64GB Wi-Fi with 3G or 4G at 650 euros. A quick currency conversion gives us $322 and $840 respectively, the latter of which will probably have seen wallets everywhere twitch nervously.

Just like all the other iPad Mini rumors, there’s no way to know if this is really a screenshot from MediaMarkt’s computer system, and equally we can’t take those prices as final either, as Apple’s US pricing is often lower than it’s European equivalent.

October 23 is one week away tomorrow, which means that if an event is to take place, Apple will start to send invitations out very soon. We really, really hope it does too; if only to put an end to these infernal iPad Mini rumors.

Update 10/16/2012 by Jeffrey VC: Rumors of a Mac mini announcement have surfaced and have been added to the list.

Article originally published 10/15/2012