Can I use Windows software on Mac?

You can run Windows on a Mac, but how and what depends on the Mac model.

Windows on Intel Macs

There are presently several alternatives for running Windows on Intel Macs.

1. Install the Apple Boot Camp software. Purchase Windows 7 or Windows 8. Follow instructions in the Boot Camp documentation on installation of Boot Camp, creating Driver CD, and installing Windows. Boot Camp enables you to boot the computer into OS X or Windows.
2. Parallels Desktop for Mac and Windows XP, Vista Business, Vista Ultimate, or Windows 7. Parallels is software virtualization that enables running Windows concurrently with OS X.
3. VM Fusion and Windows XP, Vista Business, Vista Ultimate, or Windows 7. VM Fusion is software virtualization that enables running Windows concurrently with OS X.
4. CrossOver which enables running many Windows applications without having to install Windows. The Windows applications can run concurrently with OS X.
5. VirtualBox is a new Open Source freeware virtual machine such as VM Fusion and Parallels that was developed by Solaris. It is not as fully developed for the Mac as Parallels and VM Fusion.

Note that Parallels and VM Fusion can also run other operating systems such as Linux, Unix, OS/2, Solaris, etc. There are performance differences between dual-boot systems and virtualization. The latter tend to be a little slower (not much) and do not provide the video performance of the dual-boot system. See MacTech.com's Virtualization Benchmarking for comparisons of Boot Camp, Parallels, and VM Fusion. A more recent comparison of Parallels, VM Fusion, and Virtual Box is found at Virtualization Benchmarks- Parallels 10 vs. Fusion 7 vs. VirtualBox.Boot Camp is only available with Leopard and later. Except for Crossover and a couple of similar alternatives like DarWine you must have a valid installer disc for Windows.

You must also have an internal optical drive for installing Windows. Windows cannot be installed from an external optical drive.

You can use a USB flashdrive to install Windows.

Bootcamp will help you create one.

Kappy has given an excellent answer regarding the options to run Windows on a Mac and hence thereby run Windows applications on a Mac.

With regards to non-Apple monitors, keyboards, and mice, yes indeed you can use such devices. In fact when the original Mac mini was launched Steve Jobs the then head of Apple used a term 'Bring Your Own Display Keyboard and Mouse' i.e. BYODKM. See http://flylib.com/books/en/2.164.1.9/1/

If you use a Windows keyboard then the Windows key acts as the Mac Command key, the Alt key acts as the Mac Option key and Function and Control act the same on the Mac i.e. as Function and Control.

I personally always buy and use Microsoft mice even to use on a Mac. I also use a Dell monitor.

For more details on using a PC KB on a Mac see:

Keyboard mappings using a PC keyboard on a Macintosh

I agree Kappy has given a good rundown of your options. I prefer virtualization since it lets me flip back and forth between Windows and the Mac without a reboot and for office type programs this normally works just fine. (Graphics dependent programs and games are generally better off with BootCamp.) VirtualBox is used where I work and it is a “good enough” kind of program and is rough around the edges. Also being open source, if Apple OS updates break it (which does happen from time to time) updates to VB aren’t always timely.

I investigated CrossOver for my wife’s office since it was much less expensive than purchasing a Windows license and her software needs in Windows were limited to two programs. However I found that the list of fully supported software wasn’t all that large an much of it was older versions, not newer versions.

There a countless ways to run Windows software on Mac, but first of all you might want to look at alternatives to your software that work on Mac. If you can't find any good ones, i've listed some ways to run Windows software on Mac, starting with the easiest first:

1. Emulation. This is a good choice for those who aren't very tech savvy, but only around 40% of Windows software will work and it is quite expensive. If you want to do this - which isn't the best choice - you can use Crossover for Mac, which has a big support team behind it.

2, Virtualisation. You can install Windows in a virtual machine on software like VirtualBox, Parallels or VMware. This is okay, but only if you have a quite a high-end Mac, which a Mac mini isn't really. This is also quite unreliable because drivers often don't work and programs that need a graphics card will refuse to work.

3. Dual-booting. You can install Windows on a partiton of your computers hard-drive or SSD. This is basically guaranteed to work with all Windows software, provided you have a high enough version of Windows and your computer meets the system requirements. You can dual-boot windows using your Mac's built-in Boot Camp Assistant. It helps to know a bit about computing before you try this though, and make sure you have an external hard drive to back up your data beforehand.

4. Porting. This is perhaps the most convenient method, but requires a lot of technical knowhow which I myself don't completely have. An application called 'Wine' is used to port applications. Some applications are really easy to port yourself and some already have ports made for them anyway, but if they don't have ports and won't work straight away, you're stuck.

Now, all HDMI monitors will work with Mac mini and essentially any Windows USB 2 or 3 keyboard will work on Mac; no questions asked. If you need further indepth help, you should consider directly contacting apple.