Get rid of the "apple tax" mindset. I get the impression from the way you word your first post that you believe that apple products are seemingly inferior and just cost an arm and a leg without providing any other value to the consumer user.
Stop.
If you are intending to target that audience of Apple users, your software is going to require that you have the mindset to build an OS X or iOS application. Having used Windows for years and recently switching to using only OS X and iOS I can tell you that applications built for Apple users have a certain build quality that simply wasn't seen as often on Windows(This is more a developer problem than an OS problem, IMO). My point is not to debate on the quality of Windows vs Mac OS X, or to start a flamewar. If you want to sell yourself as someone who can develop for the platform, you need to understand the aesthetics of the software the DOES sell on it. When I go to purchase an application I will spend the money on it, if I see that it is an application that I can come to enjoy. This enjoyment comes both from the usability of the application as well as the aesthetics of the application. On the app store there are some really well designed applications and some really crappy ones, and often I find myself not caring about an application unless I can see that the application will be enjoyable for me (either through a demo or a video online).
Here are some well designed iOS applications:
- Tweetbot
- Reeder
- Calvetica
As well as some well designed Mac applications:
- Pixelmator
- Sparrow
- Cornerstone
- DaisyDisk
- TextMate
So do you plan on learning to develop applications that are going to be top quality, or do you plan on developing the next crap-ware fart/flashlight app?
With that in mind, a Mac Mini will suffice. You don't need the Apple Keyboard + Mouse or the Cinema display, and for what you are doing they aren't worth the investment when there are other perfectly good alternatives out there. If you want a machine with a bit more muscle and can afford the price, the new iMac is quite a powerful beauty and I still have not seen a single all-in-one out there that defeats or even meets it's specs for that price (and the price has gotten pretty affordable with the newest model). If an all-in-one isn't your thing, then go for one of the laptops. The 13" should suffice hardware-wise(including the intel gpu) but the screen resolution may become annoying when working in XCode, and you may find the 15" or 17" more to your liking, but price will become a key factor there.
I would not suggest running a hackintosh. I've done so many times, and running one will likely leave the impression that the OS is buggy and crashes often, which may lower your expectations for what you will need to develop for the platform. The software works best on Apple hardware in most cases. Ravyne points out a few benefits to running Apple hardware as well. Refurbished macs will do you fine and are cheap. Check out your surroundings on craigslist, someone probably has a 2009 macbook pro on there for $600-800. If in a month you decide you don't like it, post it back up and you will likely find you can get back the exact amount of money you paid on the unit.
So please, if you're going to be building an application targeting Mac users like myself, consider purchasing a Mac so you can understand what it is we actually enjoy paying for. Use it for a while...and I don't mean just to use XCode; Consider using Mac applications for some of your daily tasks like checking your email(Sparrow) or using Twitter (Twitter for Mac) or keeping up-to-date on the latest tech news(Reeder for Mac beta). Even just integrating a few small tasks and keeping an open mind and a designers' eye out for some of the nuances can help you understand what apple users look for in an application.
With all of that said I wish you luck with your future development goals and hopefully I'll see your app up in the app store soon,
-Wynter Woods
