Using a Mac Mini Server as a traditional stand alone desktop

Hello all, currently I have a late 2008 model 17" MacBook pro, Time Capsule, Apple TV and an Iphone 3GS and Ipod Traditional. I would like to add a desktop system to coordinate all of these items, to be the centerpiece is you will, in my home. I'm interested in buying a mac mini, I began to do research however and saw the Mac Mini Server which has greater memory capacity 4GB vs 2GB RAM, and dual 500Gb vs the standard Mac Mini which has one at 320GB. I would like to take advantage of these upgrades as I'm a writer and will be constantly on the web for work as well as likely keep a lot of items on the hard drive.
However I noticed the Mac Mini server utilizes Mac OSX snow leopard SERVER as opposed to the user grade Mac OSX. *My question is if the Mac Mini Server with MAC OSX server can still be used as a stand alone desktop, connecting it to a spare LCD television I have and a mac wireless keyboard/mouse?*
I'm aware that unlike the other mac mini and imacs it does not come with ilife and other pre-installed software, and *I want to know if it's still possible to purchase after market and install said software utilizing them in the traditional manor?*
Thank you in advance for any feedback you can provide and I apologize if my question was difficult to comprehend due to my lack of computer knowledge. I also apologize if this question is similar to others you've received lately as I did a quick scan of google and these forums and did not seem to find the specific answer I was looking for.

Welcome to the Apple Discussions!
Let me clear up a misperception that you have. Both the Mac mini and the Mac mini Server have a capacity to address 8 GB of RAM. There are two SO-DIMM slots in each model. The mac mini comes preconfigured by Apple with 2 GB of RAM (2 x 1 GB). The mini Server comes preconfigured with 4 GB of RAM (2 x 2 GB). You can buy and install yourself up to 8 GB of RAM (2 x 4 GB).
You can even install Mac OS X Snow Leopard client, which will meet your needs a bit better than Server, now that folks have figured out how to do it;
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2539663&tstart=0
And yes you can buy and install iLife, and pretty much everything else that you want to include in your kit. Either model of mini works fine with wireless keyboards and mouses. If your LCD TV has an HDMI port, then a simple HDMI to HDMI cable would be the simplest manner to connect it to the mini.
Dah•veed

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