That’s for the model with the M4 Pro chip.

Mac mini with M4 starts at $599 (U.S.) and $499 (U.S.) for education.

Mac mini with M4 Pro starts at $1,399 (U.S.) and $1,299 (U.S.) for education.

My mistake! I was looking at M4 iMac pricing. So you still need a monitor on top of the $500 price, but that is a good entry point.

From the article

> Mac mini with M4 starts at $599 (U.S.) and $499 (U.S.) for education. Additional technical specifications are available at apple.com/mac-mini.

It is true, I was on the Apple edu page and looking at the wrong computer. Thanks for the correction!