VMware performance with or without Boot Camp?

I am using this setup on my MBP with no issues. I boot into bootcamp when i need to do anything graphics intensive like gaming. And i stay in vmware when i need to do anything else (work related).

 

Here's what I'd recommend.

Setup Windows 7 in VMware first. It works great, even for many games.

When you set it up, bump the number of cores assigned to your vm. Use at least 2, but you can use more if you'd like.

Try out your Applications, and if needed, tweak things like video memory, and RAM in your vm's settings to make everything work really smooth.

I've got a 2011 iMac with the high end i7 processor, etc. I had no need to play with bootcamp or "dual boot". Virtualization works great.

Only play with Bootcamp if you can't get the performance or hardware support you need out of VMware.

Bootcamp doesn't require (or use) VMware. Mind you, it requires rebooting your iMac into Windows (making your Mac OS X stuff unavailable...) and it's not nearly as convenient as using VMware.

Really, if you have VMware already, the only reason to look at Bootcamp is if you have a really new game that runs full screen, full resolution, 60 frames a second with a lot of effects and high CPU utilization. And even then, you'll find that many of those games work surprisingly well under the latest version of Parallels or VMware.

I used Bootcamp a lot on my 2006 iMac C2D. I haven't needed to use Bootcamp once after getting my 2011 iMac i7.

You've got a very capable machine there. Enjoy.