what is the preferred windows emulator?

I don't think you are really asking about an "emulator".

There are two ways to run Windows on an Apple computer.

1. Use a Virtual Machine by installing Windows using Parallels, Fusion, or Virtual Box

2. Install Windows natively using Boot Camp Assistant

Regardless of the method selected, you must install a legal version of Windows. Windows is not emulated, it is installed from an installation disk.

If you use a VM then Windows shares your computer's resources with OSX. Both OSX and Windows are running at the same time.

If you install Windows natively using Boot Camp Assistant then Windows is booted independently of OSX and can therefore make use of all your computer's resources.

So for heavy resource use applications using a Boot Camp install will result in better use of your computer's resources. But for ease of transitioning between using OSX and Windows the use of the VM is better.

The one that's "preferred" is the one that meets your needs best. Both Parallels and Fusion can be isntalled on a trial basis, so try them out and make your own decision.

There is actually 3 options. I have tried Vm Fusion and it works great. The only problem is that it ties up too many resources on my Imac so I end up not using it. The third solution is Crossover. Which might not work at all or will work as a charm, not abusing your ram and resources too much. This article is old, but quite good:

http://www.applematters.com/article/three-ways-to-run-windows-on-your-mac/

Simen Myrberget wrote:

There is actually 3 options. I have tried Vm Fusion and it works great. The only problem is that it ties up too many resources on my Imac so I end up not using it. The third solution is Crossover. Which might not work at all or will work as a charm, not abusing your ram and resources too much. This article is old, but quite good:

http://www.applematters.com/article/three-ways-to-run-windows-on-your-mac/

Here and in your other thread regarding a Windows app you stated that a VM uses too many resources. I question whether you have something else wrong with your computer. Today's VMs and computers show little if any slowdown when using a VM for anything other than resource/graphics intensive games.

I use a VM every day for what I would consider more resource intensive work than a simple spreadsheet or doing word processing and have never experience any symptom at all regarding resource over use. In fact Windows works better in my VM on my Macbook Pro than it does on my PCs. I don't have any statistics to back up that statement but in every day use it appears to work better.

Let us just agree that we diagree Bob. I am using maybe 14 applicatons at once (up and running at least). When I run the VM Ware Fusion everything slows down. Same thing when I launch Photoshop on top of all the other apps. It slows down the machine and I guess that is normal with the work load I give it. But it can be that if I did run the Fusion at the lowest operable option settings that it would not be so bad after all. So maybe it is worth while checking out. But is is really great to be able to run Windows Apps. like I can do now with Crossover not even noticing that it is there. It seems very light on the processor and ram.

I'm glad you got your app running like you want.

Virtual machines are more sensitive to RAM than other applications. You probably have plenty of CPU to run it, but are running out of RAM. You can increase your RAM. 4 GB is the minimum for running Windows in a VM.

Also, you don't have to configure Windows as if it is a full-fledged machine. I run all of my Windows VMs with 512 MB of RAM. Of course, I don't run much in them - usually only Internet Explorer - but it runs happily with that amount of RAM.

You may want to look at Wineskin as well. It uses tech behind the scenes very similar to Crossover, but it is focused on having everything bundled up into a single mac app like a port... which is usable by any user on the machine and movable from machine to machine just like a normal app.... and its free.... of course it can be easy to get something ported... or much more difficult, it just depends from program to program.