Downgrading to Tiger from Leopard on a mac mini 2.0ghz

I just purchased a mac mini 2.0ghz that came with Leopard.
Since I am relatively new to the MAC world, I assumed that I could immediately replace Leopard with Tiger on the HD using a set of mac mini install discs I had previously purchased on eBay (I'm doing this because this mini was going to be used exclusively to run ProTools - which isn't Leopard compatible)
From the little bit I've read, it looks like I may have made a $800 mistake. Most places are saying that it it absolutely impossible to downgrade from Leopard to Tiger on this late model.
Is that really true? I just find it so hard to believe that the hardware and software are so tied together that you can't ever go 'backward' even if you want to.
Could someone please state clearly once and for all if there is any possible way to downgrade or do I need to throw my new mac mini in the proverbial trash can and chalk this one up for the experience?
Thanks.

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
This issue was raised by another poster very recently (http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1497891&tstart=0). Typically Macs cannot be booted from MacOS versions which predated the release of the hardware, or subsequent firmware update perhaps, but since Leopard was not released until after the current Core 2 Duo minis, it goes without saying that at least some of these systems did in fact have Tiger installed.
If Apple have made no hardware or firmware changes to the mini (and it's a big if, because typically that information is not made available), then Tiger should install and run fine on your system, proving only that the Tiger installer you have is actually from a 'late 2007' Intel mini.
The only way you'll know is to insert the Tiger installer you have, and boot the system holding the C key down (you will need a wired USB keyboard which is NOT one of the new aluminium type). If the system boots, then you should be able to do an install. Bear in mind that you will almost certainly get an error stating you cannot install that version of MacOS on the system because it will detect that you have a later version of MacOS already installed than on the install disk. That's normal. You can get around that by clicking the 'options' button on the installer and selecting 'erase and install', which wipes the hard drive and installs MacOS.
If the system will not boot from the Tiger install disk, then in effect that would confirm that you will not be able to regress the macOS version - at least not by any conventional means. There are always some who investigate and find ways to work around some of these limitations, so there may be an unofficial and unsupported workaround out there, but there would be no way to know how stable it would be, and whether you would be able to successfully update it.

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