I'm not so sure tbh. Ignoring sterling, when the Mini first came out it was $499 in the US, now it's $699.

The trend with most computer kit is that prices have gone down, the "race to the bottom" if you will.

I like Apple, I'm typing this on an iMac, but I look at the Mini and I think they just got greedy tbh.

I probably don't need unlimited client licenses but that's what you get with this deal. I have the previous generation.

I can certainly see them being used as home media servers

I'm not really convinced. No optical drive and I can't see what Snow Leopard server gives you that you can't get with ordinary Snow Leopard (and perhaps a little additional free software).

For a media server I'd go for the normal Mac Mini.

I bought the USB Super Drive to solve that one, preferring to have 2 HDs rather than disc. The Server isn't necessary for a media centre but the beauty is you can have both in one.

when the Mini first came out it was $499 in the US, now it's $699.]

Nope - there were two models, $499 and $799. Now there is one (excluding server) and they have split the diff.

But, re UK prices, currency markets have been all over the shop since 2005 anyway (and Apple has never, ever, got involved in a race to the bottom)..

True. For a low end model it should maintain its entry level price. It's just not a tempting proposition anymore.

This was the Mac that switchers would buy to see if they could get on with a Mac. I did myself and spent just over £400. I wouldn't have bothered for £649.

Or you could buy a reliable server with a quad-core processor, RAID 5 disks, and plenty of room for expansion for far less than the cost of a Mac Mini server.

But then you've got to buy the server software. Yes, you could set it up as a Linux server for 'free', but then you've got to pay somebody to set it all up and maintain it.

Small workgroups often purchase the Mini server because the server tools are just so easy to use. Apple have spent a lot of time on them. They even have three sets of tools depending on how technical you want to get.

That's what a lot of people appreciate and are willing to pay a little bit more for. It's what I'm willing to pay a bit more for, for sure. I'd rather spend my time doing something I'm good at and bill the customer for that. You pay somebody else to do the other things.

Yes, you could set it up as a Linux server for 'free', but then you've got to pay somebody to set it all up and maintain it.

I can only think that you haven't much experience of modern Linux distros. They are very easy to set up and configure.

But each to their own. Personally I wouldn't trust server type stuff to something like the Mac Mini. I'm more used to redundant power supplies, RAID-5, and teamed network cards.

I'd certainly use a Mac Mini as a home server (hey - I do!), but you don't need OS X server for that; plain workstation is fine. It even makes a very nice little Linux machine!

I plan to use it as a console box (with just some form of SSH) and a Plax media centre.

As soon as it was unboxed, went right near the tv - what a lovely machine though.

Matt

Not with a commercial Unix OS pre-installed.