I think I was somehow programmed to be an Apple fan. It starts somewhere in grade school, when I learned to use computers on Apple ][s, and suffered through the pain of explaining to my father that a Franklin 128 was not the same thing as an Apple ][e. In high school, I rediscovered Macs, and even borrowed a Mac Plus from my Uncle to write my college applications.

People who know me know that I could probably talk forever about the past, present & future of Apple – company, people, products. So, in general, I’m really working hard not to post too frequently about Apple on this blog.

However, I thought I’d note as a public service announcement of sorts that Apple has updated some of its key consumer machines. The Mac Mini, which is at fairly awesome price points of $599 and $799, has been upgraded with faster processors. This is still a bit of an under-appreciated machine. The resale value for them on eBay is amazing, even a year later, so it’s almost free to get one of these, buy a very nice monitor, and then upgrade it annually by selling the old on on eBay.

More importantly, the Mac Mini has a gorgeous & minimal industrial design, and many people are finding that with a wireless keyboard & mouse and a Plasma TV, this machine can just as easily live in your living room as your office.

Apple also has rolled out improvements to the iMac line, with a new 24″ model.

You have to hand it to Apple – a lot of doubters truly believed that the only reason Apple was able to ship gorgeous designs was because it was working off of an entirely proprietary platform. The amazingly rapid integration of standard components and Intel chipsets into the entire Mac line have really set the bar for what is possible for Intel-based PCs.

With the recent launch of the Mac Pro, I have had more pings in the last 3 months about people buying a Mac for the first time than I had in the entirety of the 1990s.

Great machines, great software, great prices. As a “product guy”, it’s hard not to be impressed.