It's worth noting that the Apple Store offers students an educational discount, but you'll save only $20 on the price of a new Mac Mini, though some upgrades are discounted, too.
Apple's M1 system-on-a-chip integrates the CPU, GPU, RAM and other components for greater power and efficiency, but the downside of this integration is the lack of DIMM slots that would allow you to add additional RAM after purchase. And unlike in most other desktops, the Mac Mini's RAM is not user-upgradable. One benefit of paying full price and buying from Apple is you can customize the machine and add more RAM or a higher-capacity SSD, whereas the models sold on Amazon and other retailers are fixed configurations.
