You might want to add a CPU test of some sort to your toolkit, ramp up processor usage intentionally, and watch the clock speed to see if the processor is slowing down due to thermal protections. Some sort of disk test would also be good, since a slow hard drive is going to slow a computer down too.
I've used Prime95, but it never seems all that useful to me, and it doesn't give me clock speed as far as I can tell. Do you know of a good alternative? As far as disk tests go, I'm always very hesitant to use one because I was under the impression it could run an iffy disk into the ground. The only tool I'm aware of there is Spinrite. Is that still the best tool for the job?
Prime95 would be fine since it stresses at least part of a CPU, coupled with something that does report actual clock speed. CPU-Z seems to be the standard out there, but I'm not sure how realtime it is. Best bet is to try it out on a laptop, with power management features on. Laptops tend to be far more aggressive at down clocking the CPU, so it would be an easier way to test various utilities out there to see which ones report what you need.
As for the disk part, my recommendation was more to find a tool that does benchmarking, not stress testing there. Mostly to help identify any problems that might be causing the drive to run slower then it should be. Improperly installed SATA drivers may have the bus running in legacy IDE mode.
In fact, in a few cases I've recommended that if they aren't comfortable learning a new OS, but are attracted to the Mac hardware, they could get a Mac and put Windows on it. At least that would solve the problem of poor hardware manufacturing
Interesting tidbit about OS X Lion. On the first boot, it will bring up the traditional "Migrate" screen, that in the past has offered to migrate data off an older Mac, or from a Time Machine Backup. What is new this time around is another option labeled "From a Windows computer". No idea what it actually migrates or how it works, but could save you time if a customer ever does go down the Mac route. Apple stores have been offering this service for a while, nice to see it built in now.
Beyond that migration wizard, both the VMWare and Parallels VM products for OS X offer ways to just suck a physical Windows machine into a VM ready to run. I used this method to help a friend of the family switch off a dying HP desktop to a new Mac Mini. They had Windows accessible any time they needed it, but inside OS X. Last I talked to them, they hadn't booted the VM in a long while. I think the VM route is the much more friendlier way to go, as they don't have to worry about dual booting and the separation of the two OSes. Both VM products offer integrations where My Documents maps to the Documents folder on OS X, and they can even get rid of the Windows desktop and just run Windows apps right beside OS X apps.
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