Apple hasn’t axed the Mac Mini as the rumors have been going around instead they have upgraded it and I think thats a smart move. I am looking at the Mac Mini as a viable option since it is just plug and play with all my current hardware.

The new models get Core 2 Duos; a 1.83GHz Core 2 Duo T5600 chip in the $599 model and a 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7200 on the $799 unit. Another addition to the Mac Mini is iLife ’08. Even with the faster clock speeds, adding Core 2 Duo also means 4MB of L2 cache on the $799 Mac Mini, an upgrade over the 2MB on the new $599 system and both older Core Duo-based units. That extra cache should translate to better performance on the $799 model, beyond its faster CPU clock speed. Apple also added iLife ’08 to both new Mac Minis, as well.

The one note is to wait for OS X Leopard which might cost an extra $150 on top of the $799. You would be better off waiting for the new OS.

Link: Apple