New renders of the rumored, unannounced Apple iPad mini surfaced on Thursday on Gizmodo, as one of the tech blog’s readers, Martin Hajek, shared photos of the 7.85-inch tablet’s anodized aluminum casing.

Photo credit: Martin Hajek

As external features are usually easier to understand than the dizzying plethora of internal specifications, this was a welcome share; the iPad mini’s casing does indeed suggest a high-quality device that should help Apple’s share of the tablet market grow even larger.

Hajek had posted photos of several iPad mini renders, with different color options represented on the photos. While it’s easy to get excited about the sleek and classy appearance of the back casing, there were other features showcased, such as the thinner bezels on the side of the rumored iPad mini.

This suggests better use of real estate and a possibly lighter tablet than expected. The 7.85-inch screen, which can be seen on the renders, looks to be running iOS 6, which is one of the more likely specs among all those that have been rumored in past weeks and months.

The black iPad mini should be the more popular choice by virtue of the aluminum casing alone, as suggested by Gizmodo. But there is a possibility there could be more flavors than plain old black and white available.

The iPod touch is one of those Apple devices that provide several choices of color, and that too might apply to the iPad mini; Hajek’s renders came in light blue, black and white, though we hope we’ll have more to choose from than those three.