I need a new computer

[arig]

My old one is barely staying alive. Anyway, I have had pc's forever but I was always interested in getting an Apple. I have heard good things and really no complaints about them compared to pc's. So, I was looking at the mac mini. I use my computer to email, surf the web, watch racing videos, MS Word, play solitaire and that's probably it. I don't play games on it, I use my xbox for that.

The rep at the Apple store told me to stay away from the mac mini b/c it's more of an entry level product into the Apple community. He told me to buy an iMac and if I couldn't just yet, then I should save my money and not waste it on the mac mini. He said the mini was not upgradeable, and it gets slowed down if I have more than 3 programs running simultaneously. For instance, I usually have AIM, Outlook Express, and Mozilla Firefox open at the same time. My current PC was a $400 eMachine's from when I was becoming a Junior at college which was 4 years ago and it worked fine the whole time. Will the mac fit my needs? I was thinking of the 1.66 processor w/ 1 gig of memory and an 80 gig HD. Nothing too crazy. I don't want to be spending anything near an exorbitant amount of money on this but I do have some money to spend. I would like to keep it under $750/800. Any comments or suggestions are completely welcome. Thank you.