> I'd argue that there's no better value right now for a basic computer than the Mac Mini M4 standard for $500
Doesn't that come with an anemic 256GB HD expected to hold both OS and user software?
In the meantime, you can buy cheap miniPCs with Celeron/i5/Ryzen5 with 16GB of RAM expandable to 32GB and 500GB HD with multiple SSD expansion slots for less than $300.