It's also nice not to have to restart into Windows 8 on my main Mac.

It's even better when that Windows PC is a Mac. Sometimes, it's really convenient to have a Windows PC close by, even if it is not needed every day. I have replaced this Mac Mini with a much more capable iMac, but I like that the old computer can still serve a purpose. I've read that new Windows 8 disks have a specialized MBR that doesn't work with older Macs, and EFI boot was added to Macs built much later. I'm not sure if this is much of a tip, but the Windows 8 install disk freezes on a CD-ROM selection screen and I haven't seen these tips anywhere else online. All of the hardware functions however, I have not installed the Boot Camp shortcuts for startup disk selection, or for the onscreen display of volume and brightness controls.

Boot Camp 4 drivers work well for the 32-bit Windows 8.1, but I installed each one individually instead of using the BootCamp package installer. I can confirm that if you use Boot Camp to install Windows 7 32-bit (no key needed) on a Core Duo Mac Mini, you can upgrade to Windows 8 32-bit from within Windows 7, and then do the same for Windows 8.1 (provided you have a license key for the final OS). The older Core Duo Mac series cannot boot into 64-bit operating systems, and is excluded from modern versions of OS X, but Microsoft still supports 32-bit processors, giving many old Macs the opportunity to be re-purposed with a modern OS. However, these machines are well within the Microsoft system requirements for Windows 8.1 and installs are possible. These restraints keep older machines from the benefits of current mac features, applications, and supported installs of Windows 8. Computers like the Intel 'Mac Mini 2,1' were left behind with Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6.8) and Boot Camp 4.

Boot camp mac os x 10.6.8