Short answer: Yes.
I recently built a new personal machine (first new personal machine in three years) because I wanted to learn OsX and a good friend was both encouraging and helpful in the process. I normally use Win machines and I build custom workstations for clients as a sort of side service. But my experience with OsX is minimal. So when my friend to me he thought I'd get use from a mini-mac I gave it a close look. He knows I mainly process large amounts of large image files. He then pointed out a quad core 2.3ghz Mini REFURBISHED. A few moments later it was ordered.
As it came, with a 1tb HDD and 4 gigs of RAM I knew wouldn't work for me. So my very next order was for 16gb of Crucial Memory (through Amazon, their cheaper) and a
Samsung 840 Pro 256gb SSD (currently the fastest SATAIII 2.5" SSD available and I believe the slimmest. I've been using them in my Windows builds over the last two months and currently there is nothing better imo.
To allow the new SSD to fit inside the mini IN ADDITION to the existing 1tb drive
I ordered this kit. It provides the tools, screws, hardware and a very good DIY video.. If your hands/eyes allow you to work with small electronics you'll be able to install the new RAM and the SSD in about 15..
It booted up (it's first boot) off the 1tb HDD.. took forever and I remember thinking I haven't experienced such slow performance in years. I then installed Carbon Copy, partitioned the new SSD. and 15 mins later I was booting off the SSD in about 11-12 seconds from cold. Wow..
Xbench scores this combination at 407.4 My friend has several Mac devices, two MBP's (one with Retina), all with SSD's and large amounts of RAM.. an older mini, 1366 socket OsX workstation, etc, etc.. and my mini scored 35-50 points higher on Xbench. Faster than well equipped MBP's.. remarkable. I'm impressed. In fact his only faster comptuer was an Ivy Bridge based workstation with a graphics card that cost more than my mini!
Even though it scores fast.. it feels faster. Using LR, CS6, Word, Outlook, Capture One Pro, and others.. it easily is faster than my 1366 socket Win7 machine with 2 SSD's, high-end GPU, 8 HDD's, etc..
Using my Synology 1813+ as a work drive it's faster than when using the internal 1tb.. so when I get some time I'm going to order a 512gb SSD to replace it.. I'll use part for scratch, part for a work drive, and archive through the 1813+. I really think this small noiseless slab that remains cool to my touch will keep me going on the OsX side for the foreseeable future. And I think the 2 SSD internal, NAS external model will become very popular with the advent of the new MacPro..
I hope this helps.