how do i determine the age of my mini

See:

How to identify Mac mini models

also

http://www.powerbookmedic.com/identify-mac-serial.php

When I asked mine (a G4 MINI 1.5GHz) it scolded me for not

being aware of the fact it was a Late 2005 model and should

have been shipped with a SuperDrive instead of lowly Combo.

Also, was a bit miffed in that it could not be upgraded past only

1024MB RAM, so the last OS X it could use, runs tiredly slow.

So many older were happy under Tiger 10.4.11 w/ less resources.

Have been afraid to ask it, what it thinks of the new-old-stock MINI

quad-core i7 2.3 Server (2012) still boxed, sitting on floor, unused.

Hopefully yours can accept the passing of time as well as my G4 has. 😎