The Apple Mac mini "Core i7" 2.0 Server (Mid-2011) features a 32-nm "Sandy Bridge" Quad Core 2.0 GHz Intel "Core i7" (2635QM) processor with four independent processor "cores" on a single chip, a 6 MB shared level 3 cache, 4 GB of 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM (PC3-10600) memory, dual 500 GB hard drives, and Intel HD Graphics 3000 with 384 MB of memory shared with the system. It does not have an internal optical drive, although an external one could be purchased for US$79.

Connectivity includes a Firewire "800" port, four USB 2.0 ports, combined "audio line in (digital/analog)" and combined "audio line out/headphone (digital/analog)" minijacks, a 10/100/1000Base-T Gigabit Ethernet port, 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, an SDXC card slot and an HDMI port as well as a new "Thunderbolt" port that is backwards compatible with Mini DisplayPort and likewise supports an external display at 2560x1600 and passes an audio signal as well. Thunderbolt also supports other peripherals that use the Thunderbolt standard which provides up to 10 Gbps of bandwidth in both directions.

Compared to its predecessor, the only external difference is the aforementioned Thunderbolt port, although it is a bit heavier, too. Internally, however, it has a faster processor, architecture, RAM and graphics as well as improved wireless capabilities.

Compared to the non-server Mac mini "Core i7" 2.7 (Mid-2011), this model looks identical, but is equipped with a more powerful quad core processor and dual hard drives and shipped with a pre-installed copy of Lion Server.