Bootcamp vs Virtual Machine Win7

If in doubt, the best solution is to do both. Bootcamp it and then have VMware/Parallels attach to your bootcamp partition. That way if you don't have enough grunt under a vm, you can just reboot into Windows.

If you're not running any serious Windows applications (full screen video games), I suggest you use Virtual Machine, even it might cost a little bit for activation,

but in Parallel Desktop, there's a "coherence" view mode, where it looks like you're running windows applications under Mac OS X. Or if you want a little bit better performance, you just go full screen, and it works exactly like bootcamp.

The best advantage is that you can easily swap files between Macintosh HD and virtual windows hard drive, which saves you a lot time rebooting your computer.

P.S.
I use Parallel Desktop runs windows 7 only for online video streaming =)

Good Luck & Have Fun

flopticalcube said:

If in doubt, the best solution is to do both. Bootcamp it and then have VMware/Parallels attach to your bootcamp partition. That way if you don't have enough grunt under a vm, you can just reboot into Windows.

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this is yout best bet IMO. gives you the best options and the most flexibility because you never know what you might need in the future.

Depending on what programs you're using, you could try a WINE based integrator like Crossover. I use Crossover Games to play Windows games on my Macbook (same model as yours) and they run fine. I've been able to play Spore and some other recent games on there very smoothly. For the more graphic intensive games like Oblivion or Fear or Bioshock, I use my XP installation on Bootcamp.

My only beef with Virtual Machine is that it just eats up resources. I like my resources to be nice and free range typically Parallels integration system is really awesome though. It's pretty cool to be running a Win only program on your Mac desktop and trick people into thinking you ported it or something

By the way, as a free alternative to Virtual Machines, you could give Sun's VirtualBox a whirl. I've used it before and it worked quite well for me.