Are these absolutely new? Factory sealed? Not open box, returns, etc?
yep, 100% new
Absent a very specific use case, cannot imagine putting good money on an Intel cpu Apple computer at this point. Pretty much guaranteed to have a short useful support life, just like Microsoft did by ungreenly prematurely sending tens of millions of PCs to the landfill with Windows 11. (In shill service to hardware brands HP, Dell, Lenovo, itself, etc… and unlike what it did with the launch of Windows 10.)
Agreed. Wouldn’t buy this specifically if the goal is to jump in to using a Mac. These do support MacOS 15, Sequoia, though, which just released. No AI features for this model. But that does mean these will get at least security patches for another 2-4 years if there is a specific need for an Intel Mac. Otherwise, an M1/M2 Mac mini is readily available in new/refurb/used for similar pricing. A draw here could be that these are some of the very last Intel Macs ever and they are capable of running Linux and Windows. Apple silicon is slowly getting reliable Linux support as well, too, though.
MSRP was actually $1699 (base $799, i7 +$300, 32GB +$600) when it was released in 2018), and discontinued in 2020 upon the introduction of the Mac Mini M1.
The SSD is soldered to the mainboard (not M.2 slot as stated in the specs), but USB3/TB3 external drives can be used.