Emma the kind of games you play are not "gamer" games they use very little resources so should not make much of a drain on your system at all so that should not make it run hot. Real gamer games are very intense games with major graphics that stress the video card and the audio is also intense these kinds of games put a very heavy load on various parts of a system which is why you see some computers labeled as gamer computers. These games are games that are often multi player games. War games, like World of Warcraft WOW. the little online games like jewel quest and the word games and stuff like that are not in that type of game level, totally different. AS to the ability to play some of those type games on a Mac if you are playing them as online games in your browser then you likely can, if you have them as installed games on the computer they may or may not make a version for Mac just look it up on the game site.

Hi, Olympiceagle. Thanks for the Consumer Reports summary. I often use Consumer Reports, but tend to find their electronic reviews are not as fully-informed as some the the industry-specific review sources. I did check cnet - they like the thinkpad x61 - but the customer reviews there weren't as good. I also checked some other review sites (PC Mag, Notebook Review, etc). Most of them spoke well of the thinkpads, although they varied as to whether they placed them at the top or not. Customer reviews varied a lot depending on the site - middling on some, and very positive on others. That's why I thought I'd check here - for some more personal feedback. I'd love the Thinkpad x300 - but not for $3000. I'm not about to switch to Apple - and I heard that Sony's aren't as reliable. Funny they don't even mention Toshiba. Thanks. Lynn.

lukki - It took us *months* to get AT&T to send someone who really looked at the problem, and then multiple visits to fix it. I've got a direct number to their St Louis tech support office, and the cell phone of the latest (and greatest!) local tech, so I can skip the overseas people unless I really need to put in a trouble ticket (then it has to go chain of command). I got tired of hearing them ask me to cycle the power on the modem and tell them which lights were blinking too! This AM the guy in St Louis asked if I worked for them b/c I seemed to know so much LOL! But I'm still waiting for tech to come and test my lines - it seems to have settled down a bit, was getting 2.2Mbps pretty reliably b4 I went to Verizon store, now I can still connect but speed has dropped to about 1.7M - still good, but makes me wonder if we'll have service at all by the time DH gets home. Oh, and I found I'm on a "secondary" ($9.99/mo) line on my mon's contract, my dad was "primary" (I thought he and I had the same plan) so that's why he got a free phone. I'd have to pay for mine (with rebates, but still not free). So I'll hold off and see if DH's company is going to stop paying for his Blackberry. He said it was possibility in next couple of months that they'd cancel and just tell people they'd remiburse them for their own plans (minutes?). If that happens I can drop out of my parents' plan for no penalty (found I'm month-to-month now, if I got a new phone I'd be locked in), then DH and I can get our own plan - if they take away the company device, we can get 2 Blackberry Curves for $50 after rebate. At least if they keep running the same promotion they have now. We'd have to get insurance though - DH is hard on them, esp. the holsters, but he did drop one device in the gutter and break it running across the street a couple years ago.

Let's see if I can explain in the limited time I have; if I don't finish, I'll come back later or tomorrow. Have hubby's last chemo & radiation today. In my office I have a dual boot Windows machine - running XP (pro I think) and Vista. I also have the Mac. I have not tried to put Windows of any flavor on the Mac; it was on my list of things to do. I was going to buy the program verses what's on the Mac. My pain management Dr did it; he had some issues with drivers. Not sure if he did XP or Vista. The Mac worked fine at 1st. I was able to Network; I was able to access the Windows machine both sides. When on the Windows PC; I was able to access the Mac from both. I'm not sure what changed and when but eventually I wasn't able to access either puter - I made user accounts on Windows (both sides) and now am able to access Windows (both sides) from the Mac. The problem is accessing the Mac from Windows. Granted, it very well may be me; because I haven't been as "heavy" into building & using the computer since we moved. The most I do is work with pictures; for that I use Windows because the Mac photo program confuses me. I like Windows much better all the way around because of ease of use; software works & I can do things without reading a manual. With the Mac, I feel so stupid some days. I haven't installed anything except firefox.. forgot how. lol It's so simple too from what I remember but I have to get the dummy book to do it again. lol One thing that will not work on the Mac is my Microsoft Works. All of my medical databases are made with works. I looked for a Mac plug in (reader) but they don't have one. I also don't want to have to replace my full Office suite.