Thanks for the input folks. It's something I'm going to have to mull over for a while.
Your suggestions are very good ones, Bruno. I might try partitioning my current machine and experimenting with this idea. It's also true that I could just use the 30" as a secondary monitor, but that still means I'm spending a lot of money on a screen I may or may not want (plus it's glossy), and my desk is so prohibitive to such a setup, that pretty much takes it out of consideration from the start.
On the other hand, you all seem to be pretty confident on the Mini's performance in video editing. I'm not sold, especially since the final price will include an absurd $99 for a friggin' cable to connect my monitor. That hurts.
But I'm considering it...
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Matt