New to the scene, advise please

[Sihr]

Hi there, i've been looking to buy an apple computer for quite some time now; first i had my eyes on the ibook, but then when the new macbook rumors started i decided to wait until it was released.
Now the macbook is out and it is cute/functional but the graphics card is a bit lacking for my needs (please don't tell me to go to the mbp, the macbook pro is too expensive for me) so i've i had an idea when i was wandering through a store that had macs today.
What about the imac? I'm a heavy gamer, but my desktop is severely lacking: P4 2.6, 512 ddr and a GF FX5200 just to mention the basic crappyness -.-
I know that i should go for a windows platform, but apple computers are sexy as all hell, and i really want to experience OSX. I really wanted a laptop, but it's kind of irrational to buy a laptop, and stick with the crappy desktop that i have (and quite noisy too i might add).

So my question (after this long and perhaps confusing rant) is: how well does the imac fare? I've already read a couple of reviews, but there's nothing like hearing about the performance from fellow users instead of benchmarking whores reviews :O

 

[jsw]

I have to tell you, the 17" iMac I have (got it via an exchange program with Apple) continues to surprise me, and the 20" is even better.

The graphics are not phenomenal compared to what you can get for the price in a PC, but they're actually pretty decent. And the thing is dead silent. I mean silent - unless you put your ear to it, you cannot hear it. Really. Add in a Bluetooth KB & mouse, and it's darned sexy too in its wireless glory.

So, for me, the graphics are perfectly suitable (but WCIII at full settings is as far as I dip my toes into the gaming experience anymore). The package is beautiful, and I love the OS - and, of course, you can boot into Windows should you want/need to (I don't).

I don't think, coming from the PC world, that you'll be blown away if you've played with the latest PCs. However, if all you have is that someone older one, and/or you've only dealt with previous consumer-level Macs, the iMac is a real joy.

It probably goes without saying, but you'll want 1GB min, 1.5 GB probably, and 2GB would be best, esp. for gaming. Buy a matched 1GB stick pair from somewhere like OWC, spend $230 for the pair, and install it in a couple of minutes (RAM is the only upgradeable feature of the iMac, but it's trivially easy to do).

I'm not sure exactly how it fares on the benchmarks, but it's a very, very nice package.

Go for it.

 

[emptyCup]

As JSW said, the iMac is a wonderful computer. It takes up very little space and is exceptionally quiet. I do not think any of us would recommend it to a "gamer" except that you say you want a Mac. Definitely up the RAM (and the video RAM, too). Still, Mac gamers only rate it as decent. It plays all the games I want, but I am not on the cutting edge.

You might want to check out macgamer

Best wishes

 

[CaptainCaveMann]

Hi there, i've been looking to buy an apple computer for quite some time now; first i had my eyes on the ibook, but then when the new macbook rumors started i decided to wait until it was released.
Now the macbook is out and it is cute/functional but the graphics card is a bit lacking for my needs (please don't tell me to go to the mbp, the macbook pro is too expensive for me) so i've i had an idea when i was wandering through a store that had macs today.
What about the imac? I'm a heavy gamer, but my desktop is severely lacking: P4 2.6, 512 ddr and a GF FX5200 just to mention the basic crappyness -.-
I know that i should go for a windows platform, but apple computers are sexy as all hell, and i really want to experience OSX. I really wanted a laptop, but it's kind of irrational to buy a laptop, and stick with the crappy desktop that i have (and quite noisy too i might add).

So my question (after this long and perhaps confusing rant) is: how well does the imac fare? I've already read a couple of reviews, but there's nothing like hearing about the performance from fellow users instead of benchmarking whores reviews :O

I think the imac is a great computer! I would highly recomend one, and i would also highly recomend you do not buy ANY of the current intel mac laptops.

 

[Sihr]

Thanks everyone for your replies

As JSW said, the iMac is a wonderful computer. It takes up very little space and is exceptionally quiet. I do not think any of us would recommend it to a "gamer" except that you say you want a Mac. Definitely up the RAM (and the video RAM, too). Still, Mac gamers only rate it as decent. It plays all the games I want, but I am not on the cutting edge.

You might want to check out macgamer

Best wishes

I forgot to mention, that although i'm a heavy gamer, i'm not a graphics-whore so i can have a good gaming experience withouth the cutting edge graphics