The only thing I can comment on here is the Mac Mini performance, which I researched some time ago. A quick googling yielded the following couple of sites:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=183498

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/games/mac....html#storytop - scroll through for some mac mini info, as well as some other tidbits that may be of use to you.