Apple's all-in-one consumer iMac, and its low-end Mac Mini, are both likely to get an upgrade at Macworld. The company plans to add Nvidia chipsets to the new models to take advantage of the capabilities of the upcoming Snow Leopard operating system, according to the Apple blog 9to5Mac. The new machines also will include new quad-core CPUs from Intel designed for small PCs and all-in-one PCs, and new cooling technology for chips using a magnesium-aluminum alloy chassis, according to the Apple blog Cult of Mac, which attributes the report to the Chinese-language Economic Daily News. (Asian business publications are often good sources of Apple news because that's where Apple manufactures its products.)

Apple's Mac Mini is likely to get an upgrade.

The Mini will get its internal optical drive replaced with a SATA optical hard drive that can be swapped out for a second SATA hard drive, according to The Unofficial Apple Weblog. That'll be great for departments and small businesses using the Mini as a server. And the Mini gets a facelift -- instead of the current white plastic top, the computer will be designed with black plastic and aluminum, like Apple's other, newer products. Instead of a smooth surface, the Mini will have a "lip" similar to Time Capsule.

The Mini is, to the casual observer, the most boring product Apple sells. It's a simple, boxy, sub-$1,000 computer, without even a keyboard, mouse, and display (you have to buy those separately). Last year, Apple blogs were buzzing with rumors that Apple planned to discontinue the model entirely.

But the plain-jane Mini actually leads a fascinating secret life, according to MacMiniColo, a Las Vegas hosting service based on Mac Minis.

"Many people are looking to use their Mac minis as servers in data centers such as ours," according to the company. "However, there are also quite a few who just need some advice on setting it up in their own situations. For instance, here in Las Vegas, I know there are at least 10,000 Mac minis running in the different hotels and casinos on the strip. Many are used for video security points. Certain casino companies use Mac minis in each of the slot islands on a casino floor to manage the back end. I know of one nationwide salon franchise that uses two Mac minis for each one of their stores. (One on-site and one off-site as a backup.)"

The Mac mini sells twice as frequently to businesses as it does to consumers, MacMiniColo says. And it's consistently in the top five of Amazon's bestselling desktop computers.

It's easy to leap to the assumption that the Mini sells badly, and Apple plans to kill it, because Apple doesn't update the product often. But it's not a neglected product because sales are bad -- it's because sales are good, MacMiniColo says. "If a company can use less expensive parts and still sell for the higher price, it makes sense that they would do that. The Mac mini was never intended to be a screamer like the MacBook and iMac lines. In their current condition, the Mac mini works just fine as casual consumer desktops. And they work great as servers."

Also, the Mini blends into the background. MacBooks, iMacs, and iPhones are all highly stylish product that leap out, but the Mini is a plain box.

Personally, if I make a big Apple purchase in 2009, it might well be a Mac Mini; I've been hankering recently for an Internet-connected video server for our living room TV, and a Mini (possibly with an external hard drive) would do the job nicely.