Well, assuming you get *perfect* running with the WinXP bootcamp setup: (which fromreviews, it seems tobe the case) The latest iMac (minimum 1200 dollar one) specs:
* 512MB (single SODIMM) of PC2-5300 (667MHz) DDR2 memory;
* 1.83GHz or 2GHz Intel Core Duo processor
and Elder Scrolls reqs:
What are the PC system requirements?
Recommended:
* 3 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent processor
* 1 GB System RAM
* ATI X800 series, NVIDIA GeForce 6800 series, or higher video card
Minimum System Requirements:
* Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows XP 64-bit
* 512MB System RAM
* 2 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent processor
* 128MB Direct3D compatible video card
* and DirectX 9.0 compatible driver;
* 8x DVD-ROM drive
* 4.6 GB free hard disk space
* DirectX 9.0c (included)
* DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card
* Keyboard, Mouse
I can bet the RAM needs to be more than the stock minimum purchase of an iMac to run Elder Scrolls smoothly at higher resolutions. The CPU may be choking too, I'mnot sure how the dual processor compares, but the clockspeed doesn't seem that fast.
Picking aroudn other forums:
"Oblivion Report...
Have to run to class, but I just played about 5 minutes of the tutorial... WOW.
Ran way better than I thought it would. Extremely playable so far. Low Res (Widescreen), but HDR and every detail cranked.
Can't give you guys outdoor performance yet, but I'm gonna say that it should be able to run most Windows games fine from a bit back. CS:S included.
edit for specs:
MacBook Pro 2ghz
2gb RAM
Did a full windows update before playing.
Nothing running in background."
--note the ram ? If it runs laggy, tthat will probably be the culprit.