You guys all know I'm a PC guy. You know that I use PCs at home and at work, and that I build them on the side. You've also probably noticed that I have a begrudging respect(read: envy) for all things Mac as of late. I want a G5. I want an iPod. I want a TiBook. Well, now I want a Mac Mini.

This new little fella could be seen by some as Apple's answer to the small form factor PC. I would venture to say that SFF PCs by manufacturers like Shuttle and Monarch haven't made it far enough outside the enthusiast market to even be considered 'mainstream.' The Mac Mini will, for the public at large, pre-empt one of the biggest PC trends coming down the pipe.

This isn't entirely new. When liquid cooling and dual processor machines were old news to PC modders but unknown to the general public, Mac announced their new G5 with both. This came alongside the new Unix-based OS and IBM-built processor. All of a sudden the best PC on the market was... a Mac.

Now, the Mac Mini will beat the likes of Shuttle PC to the market with small form factor machines for the home. This form factor has the advantage of being proprietary, so there is no need to account for other manufacturer parts. That allows for an astonishingly small box: 6.25" x 6.25" x 2". Yes, 2".

At 2.9 lbs, the Mac Mini boasts a single 1.42Ghz G5 processor, 256MB DDR SDRAM (expandable to 1GB), and an ATI Radeon 9200 32MB video chip. Storage off the shelf is 40GB (or 80GB) for $499. Add-ons include Apple Superdrive DVD burner, internal Airport WiFi, internal Bluetooth, and additional ram and storage.

The only trend here that Apple didn't incorporate is the new DDR2 ram spec, which allows for faster, more efficient ram at equivilant voltages. One could assume that a market dirth prevented the use of DDR2.