New Mac User - questions

Hi -
I am a long time PC user but after a few years at college I can't help but get interested in Mac's (everyone has a mac). I do know a fair amount about PC's - however little about mac's. I have been interested in a mini (since I am only interested in spending so much) and am curious if anyone has any useful information I could use about mac ownership and using macs.

My intention was on purchasing a mini, and adding some additional memory (how many memory slots are available on a mac). Monitor, mouse, etc are easy to obtain - and go from there.

Furthermore, is anyone privy on any information on mini upgrades, redesigns, new pricing etc that they could let me in on, and if I can find any deals when purchasing a mini.

Any information I would appreciate.

-Kevin

There have been rumors flying about that the Mini is a dying product and/or 'bastage child' of Apple, and that it won't be getting anymore updates. That may or may be the case, however I used a Mini (and a PPC one at that) as a vector to get into the Mac world cheaply. That 'experiment' was a resounding success, and this is now being typed on a nice new C2D Macbook after I used my Mini for about a year.

It was also a vector to get my wife into the Mac world cheaply, and she is now over in the other room checking out the web on her nice new C2D black Macbook.

My old Mini went to my parents to vector them into the Mac world, in their case for free. Aren't I a good son?

And just this week I used my wife's old Mini to stand in for my Macbook while it went in for service overnight for a minor repair. The rest of the time it spends hooked up to our 37" HDTV so we can watch movies and stuff. Media center. So it's still useful, if not highly upgradable.

The new Intel Minis have two memory slots, so I think you can upgrade it to 2 Gig. The old PPC mini's only had one, so at the time 1 gig was the max. You can hook up firewire or USB external drives to it, and I think they even come with built-in bluetooth and wireless. My wife's old Mini does, so I was able to use our wireless and my bluetooth external keyboard and mouse.

So I guess I'd have to say that the Mini is a fine introductory machine for getting you into the Mac world. It certainly was for me.