I'm getting really annoyed with the Mac.

Question

Don't mean to offend geniune Mac fans here, but I'm just getting really annoyed with the Mac.
I purchased my Mac mini (late 2012) in May of 2013 - so it's about 4 months old. I don't have a lot of software on it, mainly the Adobe Creative Suite, and development tools (Xcode, and web development software).
The mini has this annoyance where, every so often it just freezes. It usually happens during when the screensaver is running, or when the monitor goes into standby and I try to wake it up. First the screensaver runs for 15 minutes. Sometimes it happens (it's random) that the screensaver "stalls" and the mac freezes. If it "survives" the screensaver, then after 15 minutes my monitor goes into standby mode. Sometimes when I wake up the monitor, I get the login window, I log in, and then I find that the Mac just froze.
A few days ago I've updated to 10.8.5. Now these freezes are happening more often. The mac freezes just whenever, regardless of screensaver or not. There was a time when I had ReadKit running, displaying an article. I went to the kitchen, when I came back the mini was frozen as ice. No other program was running (I mean program that I started).
Other times I had Chrome open at youtube. It was not playing a video. The browser was just "parking" at youtube's home page. Same thing. I go away, come back, the mini was frozen.
Yet just a few days ago, I had no user started application running. None. I leave the mini alone for a short while, come back, and I find the fan was running like crazy. The mac was not hot at all, but the fan went bonkers. It was loud and pumping air out for no reason.
At these times I can't do anything. Sometimes I can move the window, or move icons on the desktop, but I cannot force quit an app, neither I can start one. So things like going to the apps folder and starting terminal or activity monitor is not possible. I cannot select menu items from the Finder (or any other application) menus, so I can't restart or shut down the mac. The only thing I can do at these times is hold the power button for a few seconds to force the mac to shut down.
I'm coming from Windows. I built and upgraded my PC a few times in the past 7-8 years with newer and faster MOBOs, processors, memory, etc. I never had a bad component; I never had a blue screen; I never had my PC hang; I have never encountered any issues that would make my PC hang or froze or otherwise. I never had to troubleshoot software or hardware problems because they were/are just non existent. I'm not trying to start a war here about PCs and Macs. I'm completely natural.
But here I am with this "thing" that supposed to be so great and trouble free. I have already reinstalled the OS once during this 4 month old mac, but now it seems I have to do it again because ever since 10.8.5 things has gotten worse. This is really N-O-T what I expected from a Mac. I am just really annoyed, frustrated and everything else.
I was browsing these support forums and tried/looked at a couple of diagnostic steps, but none helped so far. I will attempt to reinstall the OS A-G-A-I-N over the weekend. If that doesn't help, then I will have to put this junk into the garbage can. (Well, figuratively speaking of course.)
Mac mini late 2012
OS X 10.8.5
i7 2.6 GHz 8G
Samsung S27B970 display via DisplayPort
Apple extended wired keyboard
Logitech LS1 laser mouse
No other peripherials

Answer 1

Hey thanks for the feedback woodmeister! No, I was not aware of the hardware diagnostics!
So I have eagerly followed the isntructions, but I quickly found out what I have already experienced looking at other Apple "unhelpful" documentation. When I was referring in my OP that I've looked at other resources, the problem was that those "un-support" documents were out of date and the article indicated that Apple has retired them.
Now as far as the link that you sent (and the same can be found in the Help section of OS X as well, wasn't helpful either. Why?
In the document the bullets are as follows:
If you have a new Mac (mid-2013 or later), use Apple Diagnostics, which is built into your Mac.
If your Mac has OS X v10.8.3 or earlier, use Apple Hardware Test, which is built into your Mac.
If you updated your Mac to OS X v10.8.4 or later, use the system software disc or USB flash drive that came with your Mac.
Let's start with bullet #1. As far as I know (and correct me if I'm wrong) but I'm not aware of mid-2013 Mac minis. Mine is late 2012, so I guess I don't fit into bullet #1.
Bullet #2. I have OS X 10.8.5 so it means I don't fit into that bullet either.
Bullet #3. Yes, I did update to 10.8.4 or later (using 10.8.5) but neither a software disc nor a USB flash drive came with the Mac mini late 2012 model.
So what now? Another great "support" document that is confusing and/or not helpful. Nevertheless, I did give it a try. Disconnected my ethernet cable, hold down D, and rebooted. I get a "Choose Network Connection" drop down on the gray screen where I'm supposed to choose a Wi-Fi network. Why? This has not been mentioned in the docs. My Wi-Fi is disabled because I'm connecting through cable.
So I reconnected the cable. As soon as I did that, I got the message that ... let's see... my memory is failing me... the recovery mode or reinstalling the OS will begin... or something along that line. There was NO ANY INDICATION about any hardware test or diagnostics!
See, what I mean about frustration...?