If you "love" PC gaming, buy a PC.
Apple's computers are absolute crap for gaming. I'm probably going to get lynched for saying that around here, but it's the truth. Apple's GPU offerings are almost always underpowered (iMac, Mac Mini, and laptops) or antiquated (Mac Pro). Yeah, games work, but they don't work exceptionally well.
You can build a nice gaming computer for under $500 these days that will absolutely blow away any Mac for years to come. So if you really, really love PC games, then you might as well go native and build your own PC.
My advice would be this- build your own PC, and re-invest what you save doing that into a nicer Apple laptop.
-SC
That simply is not true. Apple offers computers that are more than competent for gaming. Few gamers own the high end on the PC side either. As I am fond of saying, go review the Steam hardware survey for yourself. No need to take my word for it. It is too costly there as well. As for your $500. gaming PC that "can absolutely blow away any Mac for years to come" that is a complete fallacy as well. Let's begin with a good quality 27" display for example. Now, how much is left in your $500. budget for that PC? Zero. You could not even get a comparable display for $500.
Let's do it some more. Let's say we build a PC with 3.1 Ghz i5 CPU, a Radeon 6850 GPU, 8 gigs of RAM, ivy bridge chipset motherboard with on board sound, a set of speakers roughly equivalent in sound quality to what an iMac includes, a wireless mouse, a wireless keyboard, a 1 TB 7200 RPM hard drive, a DVD read/write drive, a case and PSU capable of powering the system adequately, an OEM copy of Windows, oh and once again, we need a high quality 27" display for an optimal gaming experience although if you want to go cheaper here, by all means do and good luck doing all of that for 500 bucks.
That would net you a PC equivalent of a mid-2011 model 27" iMac which is going to cost well over $500. and is not going to blow away any iMac for years to come since it is blown away by the 2012 iMac models and of course a 2013 refresh which will be even more powerful is on the horizon.
I love when people say this stuff without really thinking out the possibilities, making real comparisons that are fair and 1 for 1 and then actually doing the math.
I don't mean to pick on you personally but I think people sometimes just accept this misinformation as if it is gospel or something when in reality it is false.
Honestly, go visit Newegg.com and come back here with a complete parts list to build a PC that is exactly the same and as good as (including the display) as LAST YEAR's iMac 27" and let me know what a bargain the system is versus a Mac which importantly can run both OS X and Windows, while the PC cannot (let's not get into hackintoshes please).
If you want maximal gaming performance and are willing to pay the real cost of it which is not inexpensive, by all means buy a top of the line PC and enjoy your minority status among gamers. More power to you if you can and want to do that. It's your money, etc. Got the cash, the space and desire for top end PC and a Mac, by all means. Why not if you find that a convenient way to do things.
For most people though, one computer needs to do it all and if you select an appropriate Macintosh for your needs, including gaming - it most certainly can do it all, including play games well.
Let's not forget while at it that more and more excellent quality games are coming to the Mac now on a regular basis too. You can have very enjoyable gaming experiences right in OS X on Macintoshes.
People need to stop putting Macs down as being inept for gaming. With the choices of hardware Apple now makes available, that simply is not true. You have plenty of options as a Mac user. I do not regret leaving the PC world behind at all. I've not needed to make any compromises.