Getting a Mini Ultimate

Went to the apple store today on my lunch hour, and they had a few mini's there, actually had like 15 the guy said. I was wanting a iMac, but my funds are low and I think it needs a few revisions before I buy one.

The apple guy says " we got a few mini ultimates" I said : there is NO mini ultimate:

he syas well that is what we call it, its a mini at 1.42MHZ with 80 gig HD and superdrive with the bluetooth and airport options and 512megs of RAM. It retails for 873$. My wife is a teacher so I would get it for $825. Im thinking Not bad.......... 8 Hondo and I got a MAC and I already have a monitor and mouse and keyboard, and im good to go.

so this is what im getting, I really want the iLife suite and want to burn DVD's and manage my photos and such. So do you think this system, configured as above will run iLife apps. well, or even great?

I was wanting a iMac to Run the iLife suite, and get the Mac experience, but the more I think of it, I think this Mini, pretty well loaded, should do the trick till a better iMac comes out. I think ill use it for a year and then sell it and get a revised iMac.

smart?
will it run iLife apps well?
could it manage the occasional command and conquer generals game?

thanks for your time
trout