Quote:
Originally Posted by mel369
I'm in first year engineering and I just got a macbook pro. I'll need to run windows for some of the programming courses and i know i can do that with either using bootcamp or running a virtual windows desktop. Would it be worth it to run a virtual windows desktop? Because if i only need it for a few assignments than i should be fine with bootcamp right? Also in upper years would it be useful to have? I realize it'll depend on which type of engineering i go into but at the moment i dont know...
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Hi Mel,
For your first year courses, your best bet is to use bootcamp.
Some of the software tends to be resource intensive (especially graphics), and can find parallels and vmware somewhat underwhelming.
In terms of buying parallels or vmware, like you said, it really does depend on upper years? Last I checked, vmware was doing better, but parallels can be a bit more straight forward to use.
If you are tech savvy, it is possible to get wine running on a mac, and that nullifies any real reason for having vmware or parallels.
As for partitioning... Yes, bootcamp requires you to create a partition, no it does not erase everything on your computer while doing it. No, vmware and parallels do not require you to make partitions. Both are capable of using the bootcamp partition. Generally, you're best to reserve a minimum 20 GB of space for Windows.
tl;dr Bootcamp will be just fine for you.