Ready to pull trigger on iMac..some questions

[dsound]

I'm looking at the newest iMac with 21" monitor and the ATI 4670 graphics cards. Here's what I want to have besides a new mac:


1) a central entertainment hub for music, DVD's, Plex, etc. I will need to run about 10' of HDMI cable to my Sony Bravia. Do they make a switcher or does the TV mirror the display of the monitior?

2) I'd like to play games on it as well. I have read that Parallels 6 is much improved for playing PC games. Can anyone confirm?

3) The imac will be behind the couch that faces the TV for DVD viewing. Using a remote on the iphone, does anyone know how directional it is? I would hate to point the iphone behind me to control the iMac

At first I was thinking about the Mac Mini for all of this but the graphics card on the iMac is probably a lot better.

Thanks,
D

edit: Is it possible to upgrade the graphics card on the iMac?

 

[AAPLaday]

1) You can have the TV mirror display or you can have the display on just the TV

2) You would ideally want to use Windows 7 installed via Bootcamp to get best game performance as opposed to a virtualisation program.

3) Controlling itunes from your iPhone is done by WIfi and can be done anywhere within your routers range.

Yes the 4670 is better than the mac minis 9400 for games.

As far as im aware you cant upgrade iMac graphics card

 

[thejadedmonkey]

You can have the display mirror or extend onto the TV. However, not many programs will let you watch fullscreen on the TV while using the iMac.

Parallels or VMWare in any form will NOT work for gaming. Better does not mean good, it just means better than atrocious. Don't even try. Just use bootcamp.

The remote probably uses bluetooth, so anywhere within 30 feet or 10 meters should be OK, no matter what it's pointing. Walls might cut down on the range though...

And no, the graphics card is not upgradable in any mac, except the Mac Pro (and that's debatable...)

 

[dsound]

Cool. Now I'm trying to figure out how to get this setup as 'appliance' like as possible. Looks like Air Mouse is a good bet.