The Macworld conference takes places in San Francisco next week, and as we've reported before, it will be Apple's last. That doesn't mean there won't be big announcements, though. One of the rumors bouncing around: a revamped version of the Mac Mini, the ultra-tiny, minimalist desktop in Apple's line of personal computers. It hasn't been updated in over a year, so it's overdue.

It's looking like this rumor is going to come true. The Unofficial Apple Weblog and Apple Insider both wrote today that they've received reliable tips that the Mini update is coming. The new computers will share the black plastic / grey aluminum aesthetic of the MacBooks, and will feature swappable SATA drives. That means you'll be able to pull out the optical drive (DVD or possibly, but probably not, Blu-ray) and replace it with a second hard drive for more storage.

There will presumably be upgrades to components like the processor or the video chip too, but so far nothing's been confirmed. Next week you'll know all, though!

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