Ok...first a bit of background in case you never read any of my threads (why would you?
)It all started out when I decided that I needed to replace my 15" Macbook with a desktop machine that both my wife and I could use. After some intense negotiations with the wife it was agreed that once I made my first sale at my new job (software sales) I could buy the IMac which I had been wanting for a long time. Made my first sale a couple months ago and I was ready to pull the trigger when I got derailed by all of this talk about a refresh.
DOH!
So I was caught in a pickle...buy one of the reduced priced refurbed models or hold out until the refresh happened?
The only reason I was holding out to see a refresh was for the potential graphics card update. One of the things I wanted to be able to do with this machine was to create a boot camp partition that would allow me to (very) occasionally boot into Windows and play some shooter game (stress relief). I am not an avid gamer anymore but I had a lot of concern that the current line of IMacs with the GPU would not be able to play any current games.
So I waited... and waited and nothing happened. Getting frustrated I set a date for myself. If no refresh happened by that date (April 15) I was going to go forward with the refurbed purchase. Obviously, we all know nothing happened so I went ahead and purchase the 20" 2.4 model.
The machine arrived this past Tuesday and I am quite happy. I was hoping to get one that had a bigger HDD but I did not luck out. Base model, 2.4, 1GB RAM (already purchased the 4GB upgrade package) and a 320GB HDD.
Now, some people might not agree with my decision to go 20" over the 24" but I had very good reason for that. I compared the two side by side at the
store and although I agree that the 24" is sharper and brighter then the 20" it was just too freakin big!!Too big he says!!! Yeah... too big. I share a tiny 400 square foot one bedroom apartment with my wife in NYC. Even the 20" sitting on my desk crammed in the corner dominates the room. The 24" would have been insane.
So anyway...on to the review.
First off...the machine is flawless. Would never been able to tell that it was not brand new off the factory line. So far everything seems to be working just fine.
I was able to easily transfer all my info from my Macbook over to the IMac but I still wanted to test the gaming thing.
I had asked a few times on this board about gaming and I did not get very many responses. Hence, the reason why I am writing this up.
So on my way home last night I decided to stop by Best Buy and pick up a PC based shooter game. My choice was Rainbow 6 Vegas. The reason for that pick was because it was on sale for $20 and I like that series. Also, the system requirements pushed the envelope on what I had on my machine. Specifically, the processor (the game requires a pent 3).
So I set up my boot camp partition and loaded up the game. When I first ran the executable it did a check on my system and warned me that the only thing that I did not meet was the processor requirement. But, it let me go on and play anyway.
Launched the game and it played just fine. There was a bit of chop at the beginning but after a few tweaks of the video settings it runs seamlessly now.
The only frustration that I encountered was the accidentally hitting the Control key a few times. Anyone who has ever played a PC game knows the curse of the damn Start menu key on the keyboard. You are in the middle of an intense battle when you accidentally hit the Windows key and it kicks you out of the game.
Well, on the IMac the Control keys became that dreaded key and not only did it kick me out of the game it cause a fatal error that forced a reboot.
After the second time that happened I had enough so I did some research and found a registry hack that worked
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/216893
Problem solved.
So I played for a couple hours without experiencing any difficulties other then those presented to me by the terrorists and my wife yelling at me to come to bed.
So...in conclusion I am thus far impressed with this result. The game I am really wanting is Call of Duty 4 but since their is a Mac version coming out next month I will wait for that.
All in all I am 100% happy with my purchase. Even if the refresh happens next week I am not going to be bummed (well...maybe a little) but honestly, I got this machine for close to $400 less then a brand new one. If the refresh happens and they update the GPU that means it would have cost me $400 for that update.
To me that is just not worth it...especially if it turns out to only be a 512MB version of the same card.
If anyone has questions please feel free to ask.
Thanks for reading.
