Sam460 V Mac Mini G41.5

[danwood]

...the Mac will run ... some other Amiga-like OS that runs in emulation, the SAM 460 only runs Amiga OS 4.1

It runs MorphOS natively, which is no more "emulation" than OS4.1, in fact they both work pretty much the same way, execute PPC code natively and 68K via a JIT emulation layer.  But as you can see above, the Mini G4 is pretty much on X1000-level performance.

[danwood]

You need a fast G4 to measure up, not just anyone, I don't think there is any G4 dual core MacMini's..

OS 4 only uses one core of the PA6T.

[danwood]

In terms of age...

SAm is almost new 1 to 2 yrs old...mac mini is many years old and in it's little case has been heating and cooling those caps...

ALL old hardware is getting harder to find parts for...

The Mac Mini G4 was on sale until around 2005/6, that's only a decade old.  You're on Amiga.org where lots of us still use Commodore computers up to 30 years old or more, I really don't think the G4 Mini is old in comparison.

Besides, they made millions of Minis, yours develops a problem, pick up a new one off ebay for $50.  If your Sam develops a fault a few years down the line though, that's going to be an expensive venture to replace.