I'm perfectly happy with my refurbed Mini (now previous version as of today). Of course, the new $599 model is basically what I spent $679 for and was the previous $799 model. I'd call that a price reduction and you now get much better graphics performance with support for two monitors and 802.11n wireless. Would have been nice to have been able to wait 4 months, but I'm not complaining. Previous Mini version is now $549 refurbed at the on line Apple Store.

I knew they would announce the day after I bought a new MacPro. Could someone tell me if there is any great shakes between the 2x2.28 Xeon and the Mehalen processor they just came out with? OK, sure it is the new architecture but is it a huge boost? I am well within the 14 day return window but I really need this box plugged into my backup system. (The new one actually becomes my desktop Mac so I am willing to put up with some hassle.)

I thought the price range was the same, US $2199 for the top end model, $1199 for the low end.

Canadian Prices

iMac

$1,399 20"
$1,799 - $2,599 24"

Mini

$729 - $949

Mac Pro

$2,899 , $3,799

I'd love to hear an explanation why AppleCare costs $50 more in Canada. It's a freakin box with a serial number on it. I'd be hitting up an American friend to do a bit of shopping for me. ;-)

I see I think. The Mini was $649 and $849 if I researched it right?

Yup, that sounds about right.

The US price is now $599 for the low end. That's a good deal.

I'm an Apple fan so I'll suck it up and pay whatever. Most Canadians will say shove it when the Windows machines are going for about the same price as in the US. We were starting to get quite a few switchers. I can see that slowing down a bit now.

Yeah, $949 for a Mini is steep considering the US price on a low end iMac is $1199, and you get a machine that is much much faster in all aspects.

Is one allowed to cross the border and bring a US product back, or do they make you pay some tax if you do?

If you declare it you must pay 13% tax. Whether you buy here or import, the government has their hand out.

it's it's me, i'd be returning the new one for the newer model, particularly if it's going to be the machine you're using most of the time.

Marg, you might want to take another look at getting an iMac. I'm becoming convinced that the Pro towers are overkill for many of us. Until such time as the apps themselves are coded to fully take advantage of multiple cores and multiple processors, all someone like you or I really gets with a tower is expandability. I for one am not as enthusiastic as I used to be for the tower solution. I'm looking hard at getting the middle or top option Imac and using a couple of external drives for twin backups.

The biggest drain on processing power I use is Logic 8. Everything I've read indicates that a contemporary iMac with 4 gigs of RAM will run Logic just fine. Certainly it will blow the doors of my aging dual G5 tower, which is what really counts. And it comes with a nice display - the towers are clearly aimed at power users. LOL! I just don't think I am one of those. I am a graphics guy who needs to run the Adobe suite and Logic... and maybe Lightroom. A brand new iMac will not shirk at doing any of that.

I'm not ready to upgrade yet in any case and I haven't ruled anything out but for the first time ever I am thinking of buying an iMac. That in and of itself is a big change for me.