Mac OS Rumors reports that they’ve heard that as of October’s end, the mini is dead– long live something new called the Mac Nano. Supposedly, the new low-end Mac will be even smaller than a mini (just tall enough to fit a hard drive in), and the enclosure will have a completely new design. I’ve had this plan ever since the mini almost died earlier this year, and I’m sticking to it: as soon as I can buy a Mac mini with Leopard on it, I’ll do so. And no one’s going to stop me– except maybe Jobs himself. Mac OS Rumors reports that they’ve heard that as of October’s end, the mini is dead– long live something new called the Mac Nano. Supposedly, the new low-end Mac will be even smaller than a mini (just tall enough to fit a hard drive in), and the enclosure will have a completely new design.

Intriguing idea indeed, even if it isn’t quite new– the Nano name has been floating around for a while. There are four other products sliding out of the rumor mill as well– AppleTV is rumored to get an update (and a hard drive), and supposedly we’ll see a MacBook Nano as well, the long-rumored ultraportable that Apple is supposedly working on– a.k.a. Rumor #3.

The future of Mac, or wishful thinking? At this point, we have no indication– Mac OS Rumors is no 9-to-5 Mac (ouch, but they deserve it, don’t they?), but they are called “Rumors” for a reason. Either way, I want to buy an extremely small, compact, headless Mac with Leopard on it this fall. Whether it’s called mini or Nano doesn’t matter to me at all.

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