What Mac to buy to replace Windows Box?

[hotwire132002]

Now that Windows is successfully booting on Mac and Apple has been kind enough to release graphics drivers, I'm ready to replace my home built PC with a Mac. I use my PC mostly for light gaming and some Visual Basic programming, nothing really heavy. (In terms of games, I'm largely a simulation game person - The Sims 2, Roller Coaster Tycoon, etc., with the occasional shooter (mostly Halo) thrown in.)

The PC I'm currently using is a home-built 2.8Ghz Celeron box, with 512MB of RAM, an 80GB Hard drive, and a Radeon 9600.

I'm wondering which Mac I should get to replace this. I plan to sell my PC to help make up for the cost - so I was initially looking at at the Core Solo Mac Mini, but I'm concerned about the integrated graphics.

I'm guessing I'll need to move up into the range of the iMac. I would think the $1299 iMac would meet my needs just fine, and that's where I'm aiming right now, but I could definately use some input on that issue.

One last option I thought of is to sell both the PC and my PowerBook and upgrade to the MacBook. I bought the PowerBook a few months ago, hesitant to go with any first gen Intel hardware. However, I'm thinking this may be the best route -- as the MacBook seems to be a pretty decent system. If I go this route, I'll certainly have a few more questions before making "the switch" to Intel, but I'm sure someone here will be able to help me out if that's the case .

Thanks in advance for any advice, and sorry for the long thread! I'm looking forward to making the Intel leap!

 

[andrewheard]

For what you want to do a Mac mini would be great....if it had a decent video card. Since it doesn't, I think you are right about buying an iMac. I've never had a laptop so you'll have to wait for someone else's input on that. All I can say is I wish I had a PowerBook to sell so that I could get a MacBook Pro.

 

[trainguy77]

From what I have heard the mac book pro has gone through a couple revisions to fix some problems. So that may be a option.

 

[wmmk]

my friend is in love with his MBP

 

[Lopez.T.H.]

MacBook Pro. Its nearly the same thing as the iMac and you can take it on the go. Go high end though so you will be ok for a few revisions.

 

[nylon]

I bought a 2.0 MBP to replace my Dell box and my trusty Thinkpad T40.

 

[greatdevourer]

Depending on how good they are, a specced-up RevB MBP may become my gaming PC

 

[hotwire132002]

I bought a 2.0 MBP to replace my Dell box and my trusty Thinkpad T40.

Cool - how's it working for you as a replacement Windows box? Do you do any gaming on it? If so -- how's it work for that?

 

[miniConvert]

Unless you plan to primarily compute on the move, I'd say the iMac sounds right for you.

I'm not sure about the rest of you but I'd rather use a 'full sized' machine for desktop computing and have a separate laptop for when the mobility need arises.

 

[hotwire132002]

Unless you plan to primarily compute on the move, I'd say the iMac sounds right for you.

I'm not sure about the rest of you but I'd rather use a 'full sized' machine for desktop computing and have a separate laptop for when the mobility need arises.

That's a good point -- but for two reasons, I think I'm going for the MacBook Pro. I would do a ton of editing on the go, if my laptop could handle HD. Editing even a multi-layered SD file on the PowerBook is painful, let alone HD. Now that Final Cut is Universal, the MacBook will be much better for editing on the go.

Also, if I sell both my PowerBook and PC, the MacBook ends up being the most cost-effective option that will work for me.

 

[nylon]

Cool - how's it working for you as a replacement Windows box? Do you do any gaming on it? If so -- how's it work for that?

I haven't received it yet. Should have it early next week.

 

[hotwire132002]

I haven't received it yet. Should have it early next week.

Ah - got it. Let us know how it works out for you when you do get it.