Brand new to PC gaming...please help!

I have been a console-only gamer for a long time, and am now looking to get into the PC market. I really know nothing about PC gaming, so the more information that you can provide, the better!

I currently have an 2006 Mac. In terms of gaming, this machine can't really do much.

My specs are:
Processor: Dual 2.5 GHz PowerPC G5
Memory: 2 GB DDR SDRAM
Hard Drive: 160 GB

I would like to have a Mac computer in some form at all times, so I am not willing to completely crossover to the PC market. As far as I see it, I have a few options:

1) Sell my PowerPC, in exchange for a new Intel Mac. I could play most new games through Bootcamp, etc.

2) Keep my PowerPC, and buy a Windows desktop/laptop. My price range would have to be pretty low, though.

Which option do you think is best? If I were to get a new Mac, what would be the best model for gaming?

If I were to go with Option 2, and buy a Windows desktop/laptop, it would be solely for gaming, nothing else, as I would still have my Mac. Any ideas/info/tips on what the cheapest, yet still high quality, computer I should get?

I don't need the greatest graphics card, etc, but I still want it to be as good as it can be for the lowest price.

Just to give you an idea of what I am looking to play, here are the PC games I am most interested in:

Team Fortress 2
Company of Heroes
Battlefield 2, Heroes
Crysis (if possible)
World in Conflict

Thanks for your helpKobi1Kobi

1. Stay away from laptop as a gaming medium, unless you are looking to spend 3 grand on one of those spiffy Alienware / Dell gaming rigs.

2. Yes, you do need the greatest graphics card, especially if you are looking to play Crysis, WiC and CoH at anything above the lowest settings, which wouldn't justify the purchase of a "gaming" rig. For the games in your list, you should be looking at the specs for my tower as a minimum starting point.

There aren't that many games supported by the mac, so you pretty much have to get a pc if you plan to really be a pc gamer. I guess that's why they call it "pc" gaming, right? Heh. And as the above guys said, don't get a laptop for gaming. I'd agree with that too. The second a game comes out that you want that requires a better graphics card than what you already have, your laptop becomes a brick. You can upgrade the parts in a desktop, and they are cheaper.

You really need a Windows desktop if you want to do any serious gaming. May I know why you want to have a Mac over PC?RK-Mara

I think Reader Rabbit is on PC and Mac. So... he could play that I think.

how much money do you have to spend on the computer, because i spent $500 for:

AMD 64 X2 DUAL CORE +5000 at 2.6GHz

3 GIGS RAM

8600 GPU

400GB hard drive.

it's not that good but it plays CoH with all settings on high, at about 40-50 fps.

Crysis it runs at medium and one-two settings on high, completely playably, but i haven't tested how many fps has at that.

i feel like this is enough to enjoy the games, actually more then enough, so don't be intimidated by those monster quad core, 8gb ram, dual 8800, water cooled pc's. you can get alot of bang for your buck(i hate the saying but w/e) if you look aroung for a little and do some research.

don't get a laptop!!! (personal experience)

I would recomend a windows desktop with

2-3GB Ram

8800 GT 512mb or better

E6600

As almost everyone else has said, do not get a laptop, they go out of date faster than a cheesy bun. and you can not upgrade them past the ram / hard drive. (sometimes the CPU if your lucky)

Also as someone has stated, MAC are only really good for editing video / making music / work related things.

Shop around, you might be lucky, never go for the first price you see,

And NEVER believe the hype about having to spend over £1000 on a decent gaming rig.

OK i come from the land of stupidly high prices (the UK) but from what I've seen you can get things in the US a hell of a lot cheaper.

I build my PC for £590 and although on the exchange rate that comes in at over $1100, if i was in the US, i would of been able to build it for a lot cheaper (damn those websites that don't export to other countries)

Anyway, system specs below

Q6600 (quad core CPU, but a duel core will be just as good)

2 gig of DDR2 @ 800mhz

Gigabyte SLI motherboard

8800GTX 768meg version

its best to shop around, but if you can find one website doing things cheaper than any other, get it all from the one source, will save a lot in postage.

The one thing you do have on your side at the moment, is that the new nvidia 9800 has just come out, so if you can find a website clearing their stock of 8800s, you should get it a lot cheaper than when it first came out, its a very good card, and its going to take at least 3 years for it to start struggling with in games id imagine (it was around the same amount of time for 6800ultra to start showing its age)

But as you are new to PC gaming, or rig building, the one thing i strongly recommend getting, is a power supply that can handle it.

Rule of thumb for PC gaming is build a very good rig to start with and you will spend less time and money upgrading when things start looking their age.

The misconception about PC gaming is that your constantly upgrading to run the latest games. this is a view only made by those unfortunate enough to not be able to build a monster rig to start with. where person goes out and gets a low to medium end rig, that will last about a year before they have to start upgrading, the high end rig will last about 3 to 4 years before it starts struggling, its been like this since the days of the 486 DX2 66 and voodoo graphics cards and ATI rage pro's

This is true about everything PC. the higher end stuff takes longer to start struggling, so saves you money in the long run.