Mac mini

Wow. That is all I really have to say, but here's some buying advice:

I would recommend, if nothing else, to get the $75 upgrade from 256 to 512 MB of RAM (You can't upgrade the RAM yourself, or I'd recommend getting it from someone else)... everything will run much more smoothly. I usually recommend getting applecare, but if your computer costs $499 plus $75 for RAM = $574, the $149 for apple care doesn't make much sense, just buy a new one, it will only hurt if the thing falls apart in the first year or so, and Apples don't do that.

Thinking of springing for the DVD-R drive? Don't... Get an external drive, then when you buy a new Mac mini next year, you can save $100 on that one too. But it is really cool to have a 6.5"x6.5"x2" box on your desk with only a monitor, keyboard and mouse... if you are looking for cool, you'll be spending a lot more

The $50 for 40 extra GB is worth it, it just depends on what you are looking for on the bottom line.

Internal Bluetooth is only available if you buy it now, but if you change your mind later, there are dongles you can buy...

Don't buy from Apple, you get sales tax, and no extra deals... Go for MacMall or MacWarehouse to get free shipping, no sales-tax, and extras (like a free keyboard and mouse)

They are obviously way overcharging for the 1GB of RAM... that is probably to separate it from the iMac. When I checked the iMac, they are selling 1GB sticks for it for the same price, so I guess I was wrong...

For $2,500 you could get a very awesome setup, 17" LCD, 1.4GHz, 1GB RAM 80GB HD, AirPort Extreme, DVD Burner, and Apple Care (with a price that high, AppleCare again becomes a must-have...) Well, you can get an iMac for $300 less, with a G5 1.8GHz and 250GB HD, so I'd go that route :-) )

Just for Reference, my G4 800MHz Powerbook runs just fine with 640MB of RAM... 1.4GHz would be plenty fast for photo editing, internet, Garage Band, etc.