Hello, I'm a PC user considering a move to Macs, but I'm unsure if it would be a good choice. I have bought a new PC a couple years ago with a really robust configuration, from a very big company (Dell), with a focus on gaming. The computer has been a constant source of stress - I have had to replace everything, including the mother board. Meanwhile, some friends have an iMac, and I can't help but notice how it has never given them any problem. And my iPhone is a great piece of hardware.
The thing is, I'm not sure the Mac is powerful enough for gaming. Most of what I would do would likely be under Boot Camp, considering how many pieces of software are not available for macintoshes; do you people think it would be worth it, or should I just give PCs one more try?
I don't know where it comes from that you Americans appear to have such a low opinion about Dell. Here in Germany, Dell is BY FAR the best supplier for business(!) hardware in the industry with the best service that I know of. Apple offers nothing even remotely close to Dell's service and reliability.
The only other company that had a similarly good reputation was IBM, but I do not know that first hand. HP doesn't reach Dell's level, and that I do know first hand.
I could also tell you long stories about failing Apple hardware and how long it took Apple to fix certain issues. For example, it took them more than two weeks to fix the wireless LAN issue of my current 27" iMac i5 and I had to send in the computer twice. And that was WITH the expensive AppleCare! If it had been a Dell, some technician would have come to my house and would have fixed it right there - the next day. Because that's the sort of service that you get from Dell for the price of AppleCare. (Actually, you would already get SAME BUSINESS DAY, 4 HOURS response time service for that money.)
I also had a long list of issues with Mac Minis, Mac Pros, PowerMacs, iMac G4s and PowerBooks. Really, Apple computers are no magical silver bullets. They're just machines like all the other PCs out there.
Anyway. If you want a computer for gaming, you should NOT buy a machine from Apple. 64-Bit Windows 7 will be your operating system of choice, and you'll get much more bang for the buck when you buy a PC. End of story.
If you were primarily looking for well-designed hardware - talking about looks AND engineering - or if you wanted a rather quiet machine, then Apple's computers would be in the discussion again, even if you wanted to use them as hosts for Windows or Linux. But since you're looking for a gaming rig, you should buy something else. An Asus Predator, maybe?