There's a rumor according to which an iMac event will take place March 24. It appears the event will bring some hardware updates for the iMac. The Mac mini and Mac Pro might even come along with a "pleasant surprise."

The two sites responsible for the rumor are the World of Apple, which has been publishing a number of leaked Snow Leopard details as of late, and My Apple Guide. The former says the source merely speculated that updates to the Mac mini and Mac Pro may be included, while the latter writes, "Apple is said to be announcing a new Mac mini, iMacs with the new NVIDIA chipset, Mac Pros with Xeon processors along with a pleasant 'surprise'."

The long-awaited Mac mini refresh came with a suggestive photo of the enhanced little Apple wonder. The new image published by OneMoreThing.nl, depicts what could be the backside of a shrink-wrapped Mac mini-sized retail box. Shown on the box is a photo of Mac mini with ports for Ethernet, FireWire 800, Mini DVI, and Mini DisplayPort, as well as 5 USB connectors. All of these ports match up with descriptions of a next-generation Mac mini published in early January by AppleInsider.

Nvidia graphics is also said to replace the built-in Intel GMA 950 that is no longer produced, bring GPU horsepower to the mini line as well. The system may also pimp expansion ports, including up to five USB ports, a FireWire 800 interface and both the Mini DisplayPort and Mini DVI monitor ports for forward and backward compatibility. Whispered price drop might bring the new Mac mini in the sub-$500 category, bucking Apple's historic trend.

Let’s face it: it's high time Apple made some changes! Both the iMac and the Mac Pro are 14 months old now, while Mac mini hasn't seen any hardware update in nearly 20 months.