Oops. Now I am confused. I think there may have been three models of the PPC-based Mac mini late last fall/winter, with the entry model (499$) not having the built-in wireless support and the mid and high-end entries having it. I am no longer sure (and the old specs/prices are gone from the Apple site).
For the record, I didn't actually pay 499$ (US) for it since I am in Canada, but actually 750$ (CA). It still was a good deal since it did have the wireless built-in (which I use) and it *also* included a free (200$ mail-in rebate) 3-licenses copy of Microsoft Office Student Edition and a free (100$ mail-in rebate) Lexmark printer/scanner (slow as hell but well-supported).
The point remains though that the appeal to these machines (beyond the obvious fact that they're Macs) is their price and a 499$ price tag does indeed happen to be below the hypothetical 500$ price barrier.
by Eric Trepanier — Mar 01
For the record, I didn't actually pay 499$ (US) for it since I am in Canada, but actually 750$ (CA). It still was a good deal since it did have the wireless built-in (which I use) and it *also* included a free (200$ mail-in rebate) 3-licenses copy of Microsoft Office Student Edition and a free (100$ mail-in rebate) Lexmark printer/scanner (slow as hell but well-supported).
The point remains though that the appeal to these machines (beyond the obvious fact that they're Macs) is their price and a 499$ price tag does indeed happen to be below the hypothetical 500$ price barrier.