Soon to be new convert

Hi Guys
Been looking into buying my first IMac , like many a long time PC user. To be honest i would have had one a couple weeks ago till i heard about a possible refresh of the IMac so have been holding off a bit in anticipation of this.
I'm not a huge pc gamer but do have a few regulars i play and also hoping to get the new Star Wars MMO out shortly so a semi decent video card is what i'm after. Hoping the refresh may up the standard a bit if not i'm still going to get one.

Having read through various threads i have a couple of questions to put forward.

1. I have an itunes account just now for my Ipad and Itouch which is a bit of a pain to use on a pc. Will the Mac make lifer smoother in operation and more importantly is it just a case of plugging my Pad into the Mac and it should back up and store all my currnet Ipad apps? I did read somewhere of people having to rebuy IStore purchases? I also have a collection of songs and music videos purchased from itunes store , i won;t loose these in the translation will i?

2. I use Steam on the PC just now and know it's available also on Mac but again will it transfer my pc games into Mac versions? Silly question possibly
what i play on Steam are main the HL2 addon games like Counter Strike and Day of Defeat?

3. My main PC game i play and have done for the last 6 years is the City of Heroes MMO. I'm certain there is a Mac version out there and just wonder if any forumites here play this game on a Mac and does it play ok on the graphics side of things. I hope to get a 27" imac with at least a 512 if not the 1gb video card?

4. I'll probably stick with Safari as the browser of choice at least at the start . Having only ever used IE before (no laughing at the back of the room please) can i just shunt over my bookmarks via memory stick from pc to mac and dump them in the appropriate location and have access to them all?

5. I know i'm going to have to get to grips with bootcamp , probably sooner thsn later to get this new Star Wars MMO working , no Mac version in the pipeline it seems. I have 2 old pc's which i have my original Windows XP Home discs for. Can i use this for bootcamp or do i need to buy a brand new copy of Windows in order for the licesnse to work? Don't want to do anything illeagal here. If i do need to buy another copy of Windows would i be more advisable to buy Windows 7 instead?

Apologies if i have waffeled on a bit but i do like to try and research things as much as possible before buying new tech , espcially tech i know nothing about but at 50 years old i'm still young enough to enjoy the buzz of new gear arriving on my desk!

Thanks all in advance for words of wisdom and any clarification needed just ask away.

Cheers.

1) Some people will tell you that a Mac will make that sort of thing "smoother" but the reality is that all that syncing is done in iTunes no matter what sort of computer you're using, so it works essentially the same way on either OS. I had absolutely zero iTunes learning curve when I switched from Windows to OS X. You will not have to re purchase anything.

2) Half Life 2 Mac downloaded for free as soon as I installed Steam for Mac on the first day I had my MBP No problems there as long as a Mac version for your game exists

3) I don't play City of Heroes so I don't really have a comment - but if there is a mac client for the game I feel safe in saying that you will be more than satisfied with it on the 1GB video card, haha.

4) I'm not sure, I use Firefox Safari is more than adequate, though.

5) I am on the same boat as you with the SWMMO. I desperately wish they would just simultaneously release a Mac client, as I don't want to run Windows on my Mac. I switched to a Mac so I wouldn't HAVE to deal with Windows anymore on my non-work computer. If I were you, I'd wait for bioware to release the system requirements before I decided to dual boot. Maybe one of your old PCs will be able to run the game and you can avoid the hassle. I know the FAQ on Star Wars: The Old Republic - Site Unavailable says they are trying to make the game playable on most PCs. If not, you will have to purchase a new copy of Windows. A lot of people like Windows XP to dual boot, but if I did it I would go with Windows 7 (the best version I could get...ultimate if you can afford it.) There is nothing wrong with Win7, it's actually a decent OS compared to some of the other crap MS has churned out over the past decade.

Anyway, I hope this helps you out some. Enjoy your Mac, you're gonna love it :-D

Can't answer everything, but as someone who just did the switch (last Monday, in fact) I can answer to some of these.

1. iTunes is iTunes no matter what OS you are on.

4. Do this, Install and run Firefox 4 on your existing machine and import all your bookmarks from IE. Then, set up a Sync account in Firefox 4 to share your bookmarks and settings with any Firefox 4 install you have. This way, changes with one will be shared with all. I did this and love it. I still use Safari most of the time. I have not had a site that would not open it.

2, 3, 5. Bootcamp is cake to set up. If you follow the instructions and pay attention to what it asks, there will be no problems. It was actually easier to install Windows 7 through Bootcamp than it was on my old laptop (which came with Vista). The key is to have a valid Windows CD and the Mac Install CD. Bootcamp will install and configure all the required drivers, taking all guesswork out of the install.

Once you have Windows on BootCamp, you can play any Windows-based game available. No jumping through hoops or any other issues. You are dual booting Windows and OSX, not installing Windows in a virtual machine.

I use my Win7 install for working with programs that are too expensive to purchase again (Sony Vegas, for example) and others due to licensing. Works like a charm and you would never know it was an Apple outside the visual form.