Will buy iMac but...

[iLikeMySelf]

Hi,
I have a late 2006 white intel iMac and I want to upgrade to a new one.
I want to buy one of the new iMacs but i am not sure which model to buy...
I would like to use my iMac for some gaming on windows 7, not much because I have a PS3 but yet I would like games to be playable.
1. Would be base model be too basic for gaming?
If it is, the next model would be the 21.5 inch but with ATI video card.
2.Is it good enough?
And in my case, money is not a problem so... the 27" i5 model would be the other option but...
3. Isn't the screen too big? I don't want to damage my eyes, my desk is 75cm deep and I use the computer for about 2 to 3 hours a day.
4. I tried to google the gaming performance on the iMacs but couldn't find, I am more interested in the performance of the games in windows, if anyone knows where can I find one please tell me.
Thanks everyone in advance.

 

[Hellhammer]

Hi,
I have a late 2006 white intel iMac and I want to upgrade to a new one.
I want to buy one of the new iMacs but i am not sure which model to buy...
I would like to use my iMac for some gaming on windows 7, not much because I have a PS3 but yet I would like games to be playable.
1. Would be base model be too basic for gaming?
If it is, the next model would be the 21.5 inch but with ATI video card.
2.Is it good enough?
And in my case, money is not a problem so... the 27" i5 model would be the other option but...
3. Isn't the screen too big? I don't want to damage my eyes, my desk is 75cm deep and I use the computer for about 2 to 3 hours a day.
4. I tried to google the gaming performance on the iMacs but couldn't find, I am more interested in the performance of the games in windows, if anyone knows where can I find one please tell me.
Thanks everyone in advance.

1. It's okay if you are fine with low graphics and FPS. Depends on games you would like to play though

2. For gaming the i5 is in different category, it's a beast! Up to you, you could build a PC for gaming for less than 600$ and it'll own all iMacs but you already have PS3 for gaming so...

3. I have 24" and it's not too big..It's too small! Just turn down the brightness and you're fine

4. http://search.freefind.com/find.html?id=65514143&pid=r&mode=ALL&n=0&_charset_=&bcd=÷&query=imac+2009

 

[pilot1226]

Hi! You may want to consider waiting for a new release of iMac since they're already ~200 days into this product cycle (reference the buyer's guide on the MacRumors page)

1. Would be base model be too basic for gaming?
If it is, the next model would be the 21.5 inch but with ATI video card.

Since the iMac is enclosed and all-in-one, I would imagine that the existing video card would be "okay" for everything out there today within some limits (don't expect to run BF2:BC on max everything!) but you may want to consider going to the larger iMac just so you can have the strongest GPU available in the iMac line.

2.Is it good enough?

Good enough for what? Gaming? Yes, probably, it all depends on what type of game and what type of technology the games use. I'm pretty sure the ATI Radeon HD 5000 line of cards uses DX11 technology, and while few (or no) games use this technology now, I would imagine that over the next few years this will become more of the standard.

3. Isn't the screen too big? I don't want to damage my eyes, my desk is 75cm deep and I use the computer for about 2 to 3 hours a day.

Which, the 21.5" or 27"? This is the actual viewable size, so the casing extends it a few more inches. I personally have a 20.1" Dell monitor on my desktop at the moment and I would definitely make use of the extra 6.9". The display is beautiful and I find myself multitasking often, so I would like to "tile" the windows which is much easier to do with a bigger working area (bigger screen).

4. I tried to google the gaming performance on the iMacs but couldn't find, I am more interested in the performance of the games in windows, if anyone knows where can I find one please tell me.

GeekBench would be pretty good to compare Macs and PCs, but remember that the benchmark is (I think) indicative of ONLY the CPU power. You may want to check reviews and benchmarks of GPUs on The Guru of 3d (google the website).

Remember, you can't upgrade your GPU so you may want to spend extra on something that's more future proof.

I'm personally waiting until the next release of iMacs before I purchase a new desktop because I'm hoping that there's an ATI 5000-series card available.

As for gaming in Windows, since it's native and not emulated, it should be an accurate benchmark whether you run either OSX or Win7.

 

[Hellhammer]

*SNIP*

I'm personally waiting until the next release of iMacs before I purchase a new desktop because I'm hoping that there's an ATI 5000-series card available.

As for gaming in Windows, since it's native and not emulated, it should be an accurate benchmark whether you run either OSX or Win7.

Actually, ATI Mobile Radeon 5000-series is slower/about as fast as 4000 series so e.g. 5850 won't be an upgrade, it's almost a downgrade! See this thread

 

[iLikeMySelf]

thank you for the fast replies!
So how much should I wait for the new iMac, im not in a hurry.
For now, I think I will get the i5 or wait.

 

[Hellhammer]

thank you for the fast replies!
So how much should I wait for the new iMac, im not in a hurry.
For now, I think I will get the i5 or wait.

If you're getting the i5, just buy now. Next gen won't be much if any faster than that