Windows / Mac Integration
You can now enjoy the best of both worlds on your Mac computer. Ever since 2006, when Apple started using Intel-based processors, the Mac user has the opportunity of installing Microsoft Windows in addition to Mac OS X on their system. You can do this in one of two ways: either as a standalone operating system that can be launched as an alternative to Mac OS X on startup (using Bootcamp) or inside Mac OS X using a process known as virtualisation.
Which approach should I use?
Whether you go down the Bootcamp or the Virtualisation route is purely dependent on two factors. a) How frequently you use processor-intensive applications and b) how frequently you intend to use Windows applications.
Virtualisation is not ideal if you intend to use your Mac for graphic-rendering or video editing work. But, virtualisation is perfect if you need to frequently switch over to Windows applications.
Bootcamp is ideal when you need maximum processor power for running graphic-rendering or video edition sftware. In addition, if you want to keep Windows and Mac operating systems totally separate, Bootcamp can be a good option.