Apple doesn't cut down on features to please the budget conscious. dem's thar breaks kiddo. You gotta pay to play.
The Mac mini is appropriately priced compared to its competition in the SFF segment of the PC market.
Well - it certainly wasn't considered so by PC Pro in June when they reviewed the then new Mac Mini;
"The problem is the price. Even if you steer clear of Apple’s extortionate upgrades, you’ll pay £553 exc VAT for the basic model, which for a bare box running off a lightweight laptop CPU is preposterous. If you’re into lifestyle hardware, its quietness and low-key looks might mitigate the pain — but with no Blu-ray drive, no bundled remote control and only two analogue audio channels it still feels underequipped. And as a compact personal desktop, forget it: at this price it ought to be far more powerful, and ideally more upgradeable
Read more:
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/desktops/358900/apple-mac-mini/2#ixzz14831BpgG"
Wonder what they'd say now?
£50 less doesn't seem likely to turn around a review summarised as "A likeable machine, but sadly not worth anywhere near the asking price"
And this is a very well respected industry magazine in the UK, this review is what put me off when push came to shove.
I personally bought a clearance 2.26 in August from PCworld instead, even with a 640gb hard drive and maxing out the memory I didn't reach the same price at the time.
BTW They do fairly review Apple kit btw, before everyone bangs on about bias - they love the new Imac, for example and the Iphone is their top smartphone right now.
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/desktops/360307/apple-imac-27in