The new Mac Mini is all the news today. While I wouldn't hesitate to recommend one it's funny to me that Mac people think $499 is cheap. They are so used to Apple's high prices. What do I mean?

Well, just last month I was out computer shopping for my 90yr old grandmother. I thought about a Mac but she only uses E−mail, she's already used to Outlook Express and the cheapest Mac was more than I could effort. Even at $499 it's more than I could afford.

I thought about giving her one of my old PCs but getting it back to the USA would have been a pain in the ass so I went on line checking for prices.

Linspire PC: 128meg ram, 40gig HD, CD drive, internal video+sound+net, keyboard, mouse, external speakers. $189 from Walmart, $199 from Fry's

Compaq PC: 256meg ram, 40gig HD, CD−drive, floppy, internal video+sound+net, keyboard, mouse, external speakers, Window XP Home, Ink Jet Printer, 15 inch monitor. $299 from Best Buy.

Even the lowest end Dell is only $449 and that includes 512meg of ram, keyboard, mouse and LCD monitor.

I had a spare copy of XP at Home I wasn't using so I went with the Linspire machine and installed XP at Home

Apple still has a ways to go.