The anticipated updates for the Mac Mini, iMac and Mac Pro have finally made it though to general sale. However, for the first time in my memory, these updates didn't come with just speed bumps etc, but also saw a large increase in price (in the UK at least).

Yesterday, the Mac Mini started at £391, today the basic model will set you back a more serious £499. The high end Mac Mini which was priced around £500, is now £649 which puts it in direct competition with the low end of the mid range PC market.

So what do you get for your money?

Follow up:

As you can see, in both cases the specs for the Mini are solid, and a welcome update over the fossilised previous spec. I'm sure a lot of people were eagerly awaiting this, and will surely feel cheated by the price (more on the price later). The Mac Mini does now support up to 4GB of RAM, it now has both Mini DVI (adapter included) and Displayport connectors and 5 USB ports, but interestingly it no longer comes supplied with an Apple Remote, which means you will have to buy one seperately for £15 if you want to make the most of the Mini as a media box.

Now on to the iMac...

2 noticeably significant changes:

1. There is now only one 20in model, the other 3 are 24 inches
2. The bottom two models only have 9400M graphics, and no option to upgrade in configuring your system.

What this now means, is that for the real horsepower of the GT120 (and the chance to upgrade at extra cost to the GT130 or Radeon HD 4850), you have to spend a wallet emptying £1499

Unfortunately the price has shot up on the iMacs too, the basic model is now £949. Personally I feel spending almost £1000 on a computer that only comes with a 9400M integrated graphics chip is a bit cheeky. The new iMacs do now support up to 8GB of RAM however and have larger hard drive. Unfortunately, the iMac has also seen the removal of the Apple Remote from its box as standard, a real shame.

Why the price increase?

Well, the exchange rate has probably played a part, given that this time last year £1 bought you around $2, but now the exchange rate is around £1 = $1.4

This doesn't make it any easier to swallow the hike though, I accept exchange rates are vastly different, but in these difficult times I feel like the prices are now a touch too expensive to justify the specs of certain models.

Out of these updates, the machine which stands out as pretty good bang for buck is the basic Mac Mini. At £499 with the 9400M chipset, it is standing pretty solidly, especially when you compare it to the price in America (the basic Mac Mini is $599 on the other side of the Atlantic, which is around £425. When you factor in import costs and VAT the £499 price tag looks pretty good). The addition of Firewire 800 to the Mac Mini is the icing on the cake.

So there you have it, a quick run down of the updates to the Mac Mini and iMacs. My thoughts on the Mac Pro updates will follow.