Which Mac Mini for word processing?

Question

Hello, my partner is looking to buy a computer to use exclusively for word processing.  Since she literally only wants to use a word processor – probably either MS Word or Nisus Writer – and nothing else (not even the internet), I suggested she might get a secondhand Mac Mini.
I was wondering if anyone had any particular advice on what to look out for – otherwise it would just be a case of seeing what the cheapest device on offer is at a local second-hand computer shop.
These would be the requirements:
1.  It must be able to run at least Snow Leopard, in order to run a modern word processor.
2.  It must be secure, i.e. not liable to break/malfunction easily.  (My partner is writing a novel, so she doesn't want to lose it half way through!)
3.  It must be able to start up quickly.
I'm assuming these are modest requirements, so I assume I'm really asking if there's any particularly dodgy models I should look out for etc.
Any thoughts welcome!
Jon

Answer 1

Adding an aftermarket SSD drive won't help keep the cost down though.  To some extent, often startup doesn't matter much as many people never shut their Macs down.  My MBP has not been turned off for more than a few days in 4 years - I'll sleep it when away from it, and the hard drive and screen are timed out to sleep, but I don't bother shutting it down and rebooting it often.  And the difference in boot time for an SSD versus a HDD is likely going to be under one minute on any machine made in the last 3-5 years, so is it worth the cost for that, especially if you are only rarely restarting the machine?  To my mind that answer is no, but everybody is different.
If I/O is an actually bottleneck or high activity issue on a machine, that is when an SSD becomes worth the extra cost, to my mind.  For word processing, I/O will not be a limitation at all, even with an older 5400rpm conventional HDD, so using an SSD is largely paying for something without any real benefit.  Even in terms of reliability, SSDs are hardly error free or not prone to failure, and in real world use or MTBF type ratings, a good quality conventional HDD is just as reliable as any decent SSD (and sometimes is more so for certain types of failures under heavy use read/write conditions).
Buying used is fine, if you know the place you are buying from and can trust them to only offer decent items.  As long as you backup regularly so you can recover, a used item may suit your budget and needs just fine.
In the tight budget scenario though, it is hard to beat some of the available Windows PC consumer machines, and many of those are pretty good quality.  MS Word is MS Word by and large, whether on OS X or Windows.  Keep in mind for the PC route, the cost of decent AV (although many of the free tools are very good and more than enough if you are educated and savvy about what to do and not do with email or web sites&links).