time for a new comtpuer

The links didnt work...What games r u talking about??? I would get the mini. It runs OSX...thats the clincher...
I'm not a big dell fan, though. If I was to buy a PC i would build my own...you should look into this...cheaper, better parts, and you know what you are working with...just a thought...

 

I'm biased, but I would recommend the Mac mini with OS X over a Dell an Windows any day. Just think no virus. As long as you have a display already you are all set. Although I would recommend more memory from Crucial if possible. But if not, I would consider AppleCare as the most important.

 

I'm gonna get stoned for this...

I'm assuming that you are a younger comuter enthusiast. In that case I would reccommend that if you have not had experience building and working with computers that you spend your cash on parts for a pc and build it from scratch. it's not hard. I built my first back when I was 13 and that was back in the dark ages of IRQs and no plug and play. It was a great learning experience and I was able to not only learn, but build a nice system (for the time) for half the cost of comparable systems from the big boys.

If you really want to get into the guts, go for a linux distro like mandrake (i think its something else now). It's a very user friendly distro and will hold your hand as you enter the linux realm. For something even a bit more hardcore, I use ubuntu on my servers and I am pleased with the setup although it is more complicated to set up and use.

For games, get yourself an x800ish card (i saw something in that line with high reviews and a $300 tag earlier today) and dual boot a copy of XP. It is not my OS of choice, but if you are smart and dedicated, you can keep a reasonably secure system. It's nothing like the security and stablility of OSX, but games come with a price and you have to pay it to play.

Macs are great for everything but games really. They are expensive though and you must be willing to pay for the added stability, beauty, and OSX at the expense of speed sometimes. The 2.7 DP PMs are quite fast, but the same $ on x86 could get you more power and expandability. It's all just a trade off depending on what you need.

So, it sounds like you need something cheap that can be upgraded to last you for a bit. You woon't find that in a mini. You will probably end up being limited by hard drive size (80gig will go fast!) video memory, and ports. I really suggest the build route.

Best of luck.