[CoolGuySteve]

Apple is not above doing side projects if they integrate existing components. The early Apple TV and iPod Touch come to mind.

IMO the bigger issue with the Mac Mini is that it used to be designed with very similar internals to the plastic/polycarbonate MacBook.

When they discontinued those machines in favour of laptops with integrated RAM and storage, my suspicion is the design path became less clear and required more engineers.