[John Ashman]

Apple website lists $75 upcharge for 512, but of course, that's installed up front.  You'd be foolish not to get it.  

And, of course it's not a "replacement" for upper end machines, I'm saying that it's better than upper end machines from 2 years ago.  And that's how the baby bounces.   And quite frankly, computers are advancing faster than people's needs.  For most people, the Mac Mini is everything they'll need for the next several years and a perfect way to get into Apple.

[suits_me]

>And, of course it's not a "replacement" for upper end machines, I'm saying that it's better than upper end machines from 2 years ago.

Okay, you make some reasonable points. My opinion about the limitation is not so much horsepower, which is a given, or about two year old machines' horsepower, it's more about the cost to make the mini actually work for most people, and that this kind of canny built in limitation is a long standing Jobs strategery. But again, for my mom, or to put on a desktop as an adjunct to already extant Wintel peripherals...well, the Apple mini's just peachy.

Now, when will you/they have a "mini" priced NHT digi system? I'd be truly happy to bitch about a problem like that.

[John Ashman]

"mini-priced" is in the wallet of the beholder, but I'd expect to see a version at half the price (but not quite as good) every two to three years until you can get a pretty capable digital speaker, better than current analog speakers, for under $1000.  But remember that drivers/cabinet will be the most important and expensive part, so there won't be any free rides.