I saw the Mac Mini on Apples' website this morning, and I want to figure out what it is...is it just a Mac that you plug in to your desktop computer and it turns into a Mac? The site wasn't clear at all what it does, so I am feeling pretty stupid.

Any help is appreciated.

It's a Mac computer, just like an iMac or a MacBook, just in a tiny little case.

Many people use it at a home theater PC because it's tiny and silent. They connect it to their HDTV and use it to play media. But it also works very well as a basic computer if you connect it to a monitor.

I thought about buying one as a HTPC, but it's was just more money than I wanted to spend. Maybe next year.

Great little machine that's almost inaudible when running. I leave mine on 24/7 as a home server.
Only drawback is the slow speed and size of the hard drive but it never seems a problem in use. You also need to supply your own keyboard, mouse and monitor.

I have one in the living room as a media server.

I have several installed with the bigger version 2x 500 gb drives and unlimited appleshare server license in small LANs as servers running 7/24 quite amazing actually and cost effective. It replaced aging older g4 servers

They seem to run a little hot but they are decent computers. You will need a mouse, keyboard, and display to use it.
I agree though.....they ARE overpriced for what they are. I would give it $500CDN MAXIMUM for what they do and the specs.

I have one in my car. It's more of a show piece but it works great for on the road music and movies in the back seat.

I have two. One is pre intel chip, the other has an intel chip. The intel one is my main desktop in fact and I love it. Fits in perfectly, does exactly what I need. I already had a monitor, so that part was no big deal. It is very quiet, takes up no space. I'm not a hard core graphics user, etc, so it totally suits for me. I agree, a tad pricier than it needs to be, but I do like having it! I leave it on 24.7.

Bought two Mac mini's - one in '07 and one in'08

They both ran ran silent, cool, and inconspicuous.

An awesome value, considering the mini offered nearly the same performance as the smaller iMac for about half the price. (bought my mini's for 599.00). Especially if you've already got a monitor/TV, keyboard, and mouse already..

It was almost like getting two macs for the price of one

I had my last one paired up with my 46" Samsung LCD, a wireless keyboard & wireless mouse. I usually had to point it out twice to friends who came over who didn't see it at first(or couldn't believe that what they were looking at was actually my entire computer). Those who had never seen one before would gasp and exclaim, "that's your entire computer?!" - <3 the Mac mini.

Wonder why mine runs so hot. Better open it up and see what HDD Brand it has.

I swear if that thing has a Seagate HDD the HDD is going right out my window and replaced with a Western Digital. LOL!!!

Better check the fans as well.