From Linux to Mac and need help

I have been a Linux user for quite some time. The hardware I have is quite dated and its time for a replacement (upgrade not realistic).

With that said, could anyone recommend an iMac with spec's that will have no problems running many of the games available today? I ask this because, my wife and I would like to make the switch, I don't want to use Windows and the commercial games available on Linux are far less than what's available for Mac's. We plan to store music, pictures, etc. but I also don't want to have to worry about hardware spec's to play any game available for the Mac.

I have read a few posts here and they mention VRAM and system memory. I like the iMac's small foot print and don't want a notebook but a desktop. Are the new, high end iMac's okay for gaming? Would they have problems playing games?

My assumption is that if I purchase an iMac that is good for gaming, it should be great at most of the other tasks I plan to throw at it.

Like I said, I am well aware that PC's have more games available but I'm not a hard core gamer. I just would like to purchase a game every now and again and don't want to worry about slow and choppy game play.

Thanks,
mr

Yes, obviously you would want to have the better video card and as much memory (RAM) as you can. It honestly all comes down to what game and how your playing it.

Play games through Boot Camp, that way it's native and not running through Parallels or VMWare. Last summer I was playing Half-Life 2 on my MBP (specs in sig) and it ran pretty good. The only thing I noticed was that the loading times seemed a tad long, but I'm also running on 5400 rpm notebook hard drive.

I think the iMacs would do fine for general gaming. My MBP only has about 128Mb of video memory, and I believe the iMacs have about 256Mb.

I hope this helps!

moonracer said:

I have read a few posts here and they mention VRAM and system memory. I like the iMac's small foot print and don't want a notebook but a desktop. Are the new, high end iMac's okay for gaming? Would they have problems playing games?

Click to expand...

The top of the line iMac has a NVIDIA GeForce GT 130 (512MB) with 4GB of RAM while the 2nd in line has a NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 (256MB) with 4GB of RAM. See here for more info. I'm sure you'll be fine for just about any game you through at them.

Thank you for the info. Mac's selection will be more than enough for me! I enjoy games like Sim City, Command and Conquer but I would like the ability to play a 3D shooter if I want.

mr