I think the problem with montreal is simple lack of patience. I can't believe they fired him when they had just won a game and were still in playoff position.
If you're getting the new mac mini (with the video chipset), you'll be able to do 1080p video straight out of the box, with the slow drive and 2gb of ram. That's significantly more taxing than anything you'll do with audio short of a protools setup...
for a music server, you don't need a faster drive or more memory. 2gb and a 5400 rpm drive is fine. People like to upgrade for no discernable reason other than the ability to say theirs is faster. For music, it just doesn't matter.
I missed it enough I spent $150 having some shipped up for my birthday. When you spend $150 on crawfish and boudin (both REALLY hard core poor food), you know you have issues...