Magnus, you and I are in the same boat, I think.
Having decided to switch, I've waited for the last 8 months for Apple to update the iMacs, assuming that a better video card would be in the offering. Naturally, I was pretty damn pissed off to see the new iteration. I also happen to think they're pretty damn ugly, but that's neither here nor there.
I am, however still desirous of the Mac platform, as I'm sick of XP, and have no interest in moving to Vista. I find my only choice is now to get a Mac Pro. Thus I've been thinking about the Mac Pro option, in terms of my needs, and whilst I initially dismissed it as too expensive, I've been thinking about it more, and whilst it's true that all I
need is an iMac with a better video card, that doesn't mean that a Mac Pro is actually a bad buy for a gamer - even a non-hard-core gamer.
What it requires, really, is a slightly changed philosophy on gaming hardware. Now, generally speaking, my 4.5 year old AMD Athlon XP 2200+ with 1GB of RAM actually gets me by pretty well for gaming, with the exception of my rather crappy Radeon 9600 video card. Theoretically, I could just upgrade my video card, and squeeze a slightly longer gaming life out of my machine. Except of course, for the fact that I want to play Supreme Commander (which, due to its excessively accurate physics and complex AI, requires Dual Core or a processor roughly twice the speed of mine), and also because my motherboard uses the now discarded AGP slot for its video card.
Now, the point I'm trying to make is that while games like Supreme Commander provide exceptions to the rule, generally speaking, gaming advances lean much more heavily on the graphics cards than the processors. The result being that you can get away with using the same CPU for half a decade, assuming that the industry doesn't decide to change the graphics card adapter standard, meaning that a graphics card update necessitates a new motherboard, and with it a new processor, RAM, &c. (which is where I am). Now, if we consider the Mac Pro, it offers more processing power than we need - twice as much, really. Gaming rigs these days are either sticking in the last of the single core processors from AMD, or the shiny new dual-core Intels. Gaming rigs with quad-core, however, are pretty much unheard of. This is significant, because buying a Mac Pro puts you ahead of the game. Whilst games are only beginning to be written to take advantage of multiple cores, over time, this will become more common-place, just as, over time, dual core PCs will become commonplace, and gamers will eventually start moving to quad core.
The point being, whilst a top of the line PC will probably get you by for 4-5 years, with appropriate video card upgrades, I believe that a Mac Pro (Say, the 2.66 with the x1900, which is what I'm looking at) ought to last around a 6-8 year range. (Again, obviously the video card will have to be upgraded eventually). And when that time comes, theoretically I could just find two "old" 3.0GHz Quad Xeons that are currently in the top-of-the-line Mac Pros to pop in, and more than double my processing power, without having to upgrade everything else.
The point being that the extra $1000 (Australian) that I'll spend getting a Mac Pro over a sufficiently spec'd PC will buy me a lot more longevity than it would if I threw another $1000 at the PC (given the lack of options in terms of quad core on the market, and economies of scale with Apple, &c.). The value of the Pro also becomes more apparent when you consider noise - I leave my computer on at night, (in my room while I sleep) for various reasons, and over the years I've spent somewhere in the range of $400-500 trying to make it quieter (custom heatsinks, special case, quiet PSU) and the result is a machine that's still nowhere near as quiet as a Mac Pro. Now, noise may not necessarily be an issue for you, but it certainly is for me, and when factored into the cost equations, makes the Mac Pro look that much more reasonable.
The point I'm trying to make is that whilst it's true that a Mac Pro is more than what you need, it's more-than-what-you-need at a price that's cheaper than more-than-what-you-need in PC form. Because the Mac Pro is a somewhat popular machine, economies of scale make it possible to buy hardware that wouldn't make sense for a PC builder, but which can nevertheless work economically. It just requires changing from a "buy slightly-above-mid-range hardware and upgrade every couple of years" mentality to a "buy high-range hardware and upgrade once a decade or so" mentality.
Well, that's what I'm thinking, anyway.
I'm the one that should be sighing at the reply of yet another Apple apologist that doesn't get it at all.
Who said I was a hard core gamer? I am not. But like MOST PC users (or former PC users), I DO occasionally play a game on my computer and WHEN I do, I don't want it to run at 20fps, which is what the new iMacs are giving with certain new games at native LCD resolutions. Asking for 80fps on those games is hardly hard core. Hard core systems can do 120+ or more.
Now what I WANT to do is get rid of my old PC an *NOT* have to buy another one! I don't want to hear about gaming consoles either. There are some games that only really 'work' well on computers. I mean we're not talking about a gaming iMac, but perhaps an iMac (or better yet a low-end MacPro type setup or mini-tower) that has a REASONABLE graphics card that won't be totally obsolete in a year or two. This is especially important on iMacs because you can't replace the darn card. At least if I buy a MacPro, I can assume sooner or later a newer card will be offered for it so it won't be obsolete next year. But this newest set of iMacs are OBSOLETE ON ARRIVAL!!! They are actually SLOWER than the previous generation o iMac with the NVidia option! There is NO EXCUSE that any REASONABLE person would take or believe for that! I've been waiting for the refresh, expecting an iMac I could live with, but instead they go BACKWARDS!
The MacPro is the ONLY viable Mac to run games beyond 2007 period. The MBP does better than the top of the line iMac even! That's unbelievable to me.
But what I really get sick and tired of is people making EXCUSES for Apple's total and utter incompetence in this area. If you don't like playing games or only play games on a console, FINE. Ignore our pleas and comments. You might as well go buy a MacMini because unless you do 3D video, you don't NEED even what the iMac offers. Intel GMA is good enough forever! 2D rules the world in 2007!
But some of us do more than browse and play with Garage Band. I thought the move to Intel was a god-send. FINALLY, I could ditch the Windows platform for good because I could run parallels or boot camp for my legacy software while I slowly ween off Windows entirely (I *HATE* Vista for more than one reason). But that doesn't mean I want CRAP hardware!
I've heard this song and dance about how long Macs last (shelf life) and how great their hardware quality is, but the truth of the matter is the newest ones are ALREADY obsolete. What good does it do to have great so-and-so specs, but then have utter and total CRAP for the graphics? Graphics are more important than ANY other system on a computer, IMO. They're what you see every day and interact with (followed by sound, which is also often ignored and to get really good sound on a Mac you need a Firewire box because new Macs don't even have what most PCs have and that is 5.1 or better standard sound.)
It just seems to me for all the hoopla about Apple Hardware, the REALITY is beyond form factor, it's really a sad joke. Just because it's way better than the lowest/cheapest Dell out there doesn't mean it's 'great' in any sense of the word! I can put together a higher-end Dell (let alone building my own) for way less than the mid-road iMac that will run circles around it in almost all areas! You can't even pay more (dollar for dollar) to get a faster iMac because there is no such thing!
I realize Apple makes most of their money selling hardware so my dream of being able to buy MacOS X for any hardware I want isn't likely to happen any time soon, if ever (without hacking anyway), but if I HAVE to buy Apple's hardware, then at least offer me hardware I want to buy, even if I have to pay a little more!
Macs can run Windows too now and that means access to Windows games. Steve Jobs touted Electronic Arts' return to the Mac, so how about offering us a reasonable way to play those games, Mr. Jobs....
