Change to IMAc

[Empireoftheatom48]

I want to change to an IMAC will I be able to use any of my Games I was running on my PC?

[Stentor]

Must have been a small croquet set etc..

[kc8ukw]

Your Windows software will generally not work on a Macintosh unless you run it through an additional piece of software like CrossOver.

[rabscuttle385]

Tech ping

[rabscuttle385]

I want to change to an IMAC will I be able to use any of my Games I was running on my PC?

Install Windows XP using Boot Camp...or use other cross-over software.

[stravinskyrules]

Yes. In fact I still use some DOS apps on my Mac using the DosBoxDos emulator. Works like a charm.

[GunnyB]

As indicated by no less an authority than PC Magazine, Apple's iMac - indeed any intel-based Mac make great platforms for PC users. Your question, however as it relates to "gaming" per se, depends upon the complexity of the games you'd like to use. Something like Crysis, for example, wouldn't do well (most PCs don't do that well either).

Having said that, The best way to provide for a gaming platform on the iMac is through the use of Bootcamp. Bootcamp is a utility provided as part of the Mac OS that will enable you to carve out a portion of the iMac's drive, install your own copy of Windows or Vista, and then act as a boot manager to allow you to choose which partition you wish to boot. For example, for games, you'd re-start your Mac and choose the Windows partition to boot. Windows would boot, you'd play your game, etc. just as you would any PC.

If you wish to use the Mac OS side of your drive, simply restart the iMac, select the Mac OS icon on the boot screen, and your Mac OS partition would boot.

A move is being made by the two providers of Virtualization software for the Apple platform (Parallels and VMWare's Fusion) which would allow you to run games from within a Windows window (e.g. you are booted into Mac OS). So, there are several ways to do this, it all depends on the complexity of the game itself...

[Swordmaker]

Your Windows software will generally not work on a Macintosh unless you run it through an additional piece of software like CrossOver.

Crossover is unlikely to run the majority of games in its current version.

However, Empire, you can run your games on your new iMac using BootCamp to boot into Windows. Your iMac will then BE a Windows computers. You can also try using Parallels Workstation or VMWare's Fusion running Windows virtualized within OS X.

The iMac, with BootCamp, can run Windows games natively at full PC speed (with equivalent processors) with the only limitation being the speed of the graphics card—which is admittedly not a speed demon. Using either of the virtualization options can result in a 5% to 30% performance hit depending on the game.

[HAL9000]

If you are buying a new iMac, no problem. There are three good ways to run Windows on a Mac: BootCamp, Parallels, or VMWare Fusion.

If you are buying a used iMac, find out which processor it has: Intel or PowerPC. An Intel processor is required to boot Windows.

[HAL9000]

An interesting announcement yesterday -

AMD Delivers World’s First TeraFLOPS Graphics Chip

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080624006503&newsLang=en

[AZLiberty]

I don't recommend Boot Camp. It's a huge hassle having to reboot your computer between Mac OS X and Windows. Having used both Parallels and VMWare Fusion, I highly recommend the latter. After rebate, it's only $40 at Amazon.com (you can download a 30 day free trial from the VMWare Web site). Without the bother of partitioning your Mac hard drive, Fusion allows you to run Mac OS X and Windows simultaneously on your iMac.

If you're getting rid of your old PC and you still have the numbers on the Microsoft Windows sticker, you may be able to recycle your old copy of Windows onto your new Mac. If not, you can pick up a copy of Windows XP Home for $80 or so on eBay.