Wineskin wrapper VS Darwine VS Winebottler

I haven't used any of the three (I have used Crossover), but a quick look at their websites suggests that:

1. Darwine does not appear to under steady, active development. In particular, the download link is not available. Looks like a dead project to me;

2. WineBottler seems a bit more active (there's a blog entry from Summer 2012). However, the only active link is the current download. Wiki, BugTrac, source code are all unavailable. Based on a blog entry, it appears that WineBottler 1.2 was released in 2010. The current version is 1.2.5. The developer seems to have a few projects linked off the site, suggesting that WineBottler is on the backburner (probably in favour of paying gigs);

3. Wineskin seems to be in active development, uses the same engine as Crossover and has a current release definitively claimed to be compatible up to OS X 10.8 (I realize you are on 10.6).

Therefore, Wineskin would seem to be the best choice.

However, you also need to keep in mind that Wineskin (like Crossover, since they share the same engine) provides the Win32 API, whihc effectively means it is emulating Windows XP. You say your requirements are for graphics and processor intensive applications. If your software uses features designed for Windows 7 and higher (well, Windows Vista and higher, really, even if nobody counts it...) then you should stick to Parallels or VMWare. Or find a non-Windows alternative, as etresoft suggests.

I can't really tell you anything beyond what's on the various websites. I use VMWare, Crossover and Boxer (for DOS) and I'm not really interested in any of the alternatives, so I have no reason to do any more research.

From a performance point of view, the difference between a VM and an emulator probably won't be noticable unless the program you plan to run does some kind of high-end graphics or computational work that requires access to MPP hardware. Only you would know that.

Personally, I use VMWare to run Windows 7 for applications where I need a full Windows environment compatible with the standard lab environment of my university. This way I can prepare programming and processor architecture labs and test them using the same tools and environemnt the students will see. I use Crossover for programs that only require a WinXP emulator to run. Mainly this is because I don't care enough to dig up an old WinXP license key (not to mention a copy of WinXP) for a handful of programs with low resource requirements; it's just not worth the effort to me. I use Boxer to play Star Wars: Dark Forces and The Lost Vikings. And Dark Seed (love that H.R. Geiger artwork...).

You need to make your own assessment of what you need, how much effort you're willing to put out (for things like finding a copy of WinXP nowadays) and how much you're willing to pay. But for a 32-bit WinXP program, originally design for WinXP, I can't imagine why performance would even be an issue, except in a few really edge cases. So no, I can't imagine you would notice a difference.

Badger33 wrote:

One of the programs that I have been needing to run 3-7 or more times a week

What program is that? There may be a non-Windows alternative.