What's the most recent Mini I can install Leopard On

Question

I need Classic + Rosetta. What is the most recent Mini I can really put Leopard (OS 5.x)  on? Not that it shipps with, but will actually install and work. Or can copy onto from a clone which will run?
TIA,
Bill

Answer 1

Three options:
1.  Purchase the Late-2005 Mac Mini (PowerMac10,2).  This was the last PowerPC Mac Mini that can run the Classic Environment in Tiger; so it does not need Rosetta.
2.  Purchase the Mid-2010 Mac Mini (macmini4,1).  This model comes with Snow Leopard, which is the last version of OS X to allow Rosetta.  Rosetta must be optionally installed. For Word 5.1, see below.
3.  Purchase the Mid-2011 Mac Mini (Macmini5.1).  This model comes with Lion, but if you follow the work of newfoundglory in this thread, you can downgrade (or dual-partition) this model to Snow Leopard (for Word 5.1, see below):
https://discussions.apple.com/message/17829389#17829389
For the younger folk reading this thread, the OP is among the few remaining purists that loved Microsoft Word 5.1 on the Mac.  A little bit of history:
Until the Mac was developed and released, Microsoft was almost exclusively an Operating System and Programming software company (Multiplan being the first and sole applications software exception at that time). 
Steve Jobs recruited Bill Gates and Microsoft to set up a programming team to build applications for the Mac, then in development.  Out of the effort came Word 1.0 (yes, Word was originally written exclusively for the Mac).
This program was ultimately refined until version 5.1.  Then  with the release of version 6, Mac users were horrifed as the program had been "window-fied" and it was never as pure a Mac program since...
Now back to our originally program, already in progress:
You can run Word 5.1 on an Intel Mac in a Classic emulator program known as SheepShaver (and its cousin, Chubby Bunny).  I use SheepShaver to run Classic Word Perfect, among other Classic apps.
Here is a recent post I made about this Classic emulator:
With the newer Intel Macs, you have to run a Classic emulator such as SheepShaver, which requires you to extract the Mac ROMs from your older Classic Mac and then install Mac OS 9.
A related program is Chubby Bunny, which comes bundled with all of that included.
More information on SheepShaver:
http://www.emaculation.com/doku.php/sheepshaver_mac_os_x_setup
and
http://www.everymac.com/mac-answers/mac-os-9-classic-support-faq/run-macos-9-on- intel-macs.html
and more information about Chubby Bunny:
http://www.macwindows.com/OS9_on_Intel_Mac.html#092408b
and
http://hackthemac.blogspot.co.uk/2008/08/chubby-bunny-old-virtual-machine.html