another question my friend said installing XP will make specs for new games lower & games may work better than on windows 7

is this true?

No, I think he's getting confused with Vista.

Install Steam right away and look through their <£10 collection lotta gems there and it also has a metacritic rating next to games so you can ignore the crap.

Counter Strike: Source should be the first game you get to truly experience the perfection of PC shooters.

Team Fortress 2 is also unrecogizable from the console version and much more friendly than CS:S

star craft II !!!

@Tallgeese

sorry I don't like FPS :(

But I will get The ORange Box

@deskpro

Is that an MMO RTS?

Mac LOL. But to be frank I dont like Apple much so..... but as long as you'll use it well (for Medicine school and all, which sounds really cool btw.) and be happy with it, then I'm glad for you.

ON TO THE GAMES:
YES!!! HALF LIFE 2 IS TEH BEST GAME EVAR!!!! lol.

I like my regular share of fps's though not a huge huge fan, but something about the Half life series just clicked with me. I don't know if you'll like them though but The Orange box is cheap now on pc and don't need such high specs. And you're in luck that Valve is bringing Steam to Mac hehe.

Other games I'd recommend are (I'll try to avoid fps as much as I can for your sake):
-Max payne 2
-Try Mass Effect, I've heard nothing but praise from the series.
-I'm sure you've already played KOTOR and Elder Scrolls (GET Morrowmind)
-Hitman 2 (I consider it the best in the series)
-Civilization IV
-Far Cry (the first one)
-Bioshock (sorry had to include it, I thought it was great)

Way to hardcore for Darth.

Agreed, for now :)

IMO get fallout 3 and oblivion. Even though they are both on the ps3. The PC versions are just sooo much better due to mods. Otherwise games ive enjoyed are warcraft 3, especially dota maps, age of mythology, spore, total war series, rise of nations, civilization. Left 4 dead 2 would be a blast to play if you haven't played the first and manage to get some of your friends to play with you, although the game may run very poorly on the laptop so if your thinking about it download the demo first to see if you can run it.