Advice please - Which MAC?

While ive not always been a big MAC fan, especially OS9 and before, I have to say that OS X has been very impressive and I finally want to own one myself.

At the moment im pretty sure that the iMac is the best option for me. Mainly because its quite powerfull (assuming it can run the GFX effects like the ripple when you add widgets) and reasonably priced.

Im looking at the 17inch one with the 1.83ghz processor, and considering a 1GB RAM card.

I will be using this for some graphics apps like Photoshop, and the basic iLife apps, nothing particually high end. Also I would like to be able to run the ORIGINAL Halo on it (big fan of it on PC and would love to be able to use the game on MAC).

Questions:
1) Is that enough processing power?
2) Is that enough RAM?
3) Is there enough VRAM?

Sorry but im so used to PCs where they market everything as bieng better the higher the spec, which is not always true. (AMDs can perform better than Intels even if they are lower clockspeed).

Photoshop won't be super quick on an Intel Mac because it's being run under Rosetta, an emulation program. Photoshop will become fast next year when they release a Universal version.

As far as the ram goes, save some cash and do it yourself. You can get 2 gigs for $160 if you buy it aftermarket, and installation isn't hard at all:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231069

Installation doesn't even take 5 minutes:

http://www.gearlive.com/index.php/news/article/imac-core-duo-easiest-ram-installation-ever-01271218/

Thanks for the advice, if I add new RAM myself is thier any editing the bios (yes I know it uses a different system but still do I have to edit any config files?)

Im sure that Photoshop should run faster than on my current PC which takes ages and lags a lot. Moving images causes it to freeze.

Also if I want to move my iTunes over to a MAC can I just export it over? And will the iPod still connect fine as its currently 'windows' configured.

Thanks for the help so far

that iMac sounds like a good option for you, once adobe releases the apps as a universal binary they will be super fast. The iMac should be fine but remember, in a mac, ram goes a long way. The more ram you have the faster the machine will be, so like kaidomac said, I would get 2 gigs aftermarket and put it in yourself.

if you have a hard-drive based iPod then you can use it to transfer over your music and other data.

Sorry one more question, im wondering where best to get my iMac from. Is it best to get it from the Apple online store or from a Apple Shop.

The only problem with an Apple shop is that I porbably would not be able to get it with 1gig of RAM, but then again I could always get after market RAM. However im assuming the RAM used by Apple must be of higher quality with better timings than most others.

no apple's ram isn't really any better than anyone elses.. go for that after market ram.

Getting it online is only nice because you can configure it however you want. If you are just wanting a stock iMac then it is really up to you on whether or not you want to drive to the apple store. I like going to the apple store whenever I can just so I dont have to wait for shipping. After market ram works fine, just try to get a good brand and make sure that it will fit the iMac. Im thinking about getting 2 gigs from crucial and their site will match the ram to the computer, http://www.crucial.com/index.asp.

Whoa it looks as if its well worth getting it After market, the crucial site you linked to sell 2GB ram for just £185.64 inc. VAT, while on the Apple online store it is£420.00

Thanks for the info, I would hate to wait for shipping and it looks better value just to buy it stock and add the RAM.

Also as far as I can see I will not need to change the RAM timing or settings in the bios.