what is the difference between bootcamp assistant and vmware

BootCamp is a program to create a partition into which Windows can be install and then boot from to run the Mac in Windows. This configuration gives the fastest performance at the cost of having to reboot to change operating system.

VMWare is virtualization software that runs Windows program while OS X is still running. This configuration give slower performacne without having to reboot.

Allan

BootCamp alters the boot sector of the system to contain an alternate (Windows) bootable partition. You can only access it by shutting down and booting into it.

VMWare is software that provides an environment to run other OSes while still running OSX. Safer becauseyou do not alter any part of the boot area, and you can run it while OSX is running.

If you go with BootCamp, let BootCamp Assistant create the partition and delete it later if you want it gone.

Office Mac can run in OSX while MS Office version runs in the Windows portion.

I like 64 bit because it can address 16 GB RAM (Home version) or 192 GB RAM (Pro version) while 32 bit only addresses about 3.5 GB RAM (regardless of Home or Pro).

From my experiance the best way is to use Paralles Desktop, you can run your windows that installed on the BootCamp partition while you are on your Mac OSX

On the other hand the impact in performance is no that big , you can use it in Coherance mode it ,as will act as one of your mac applications and you can use it side by side with any other mac apps

Its also great from the prospect of graphics and video acceleration, it can even run some windows 3D games.

Some may consider this a commertial Ad for Parallers 🙂 but i am franckly speaking from a nice and great experiance with this product that helped me to merge my Mac and windows world together

wael.awni wrote:

Some may consider this a commertial Ad for Parallers 🙂 but i am franckly speaking from a nice and great experiance with this product that helped me to merge my Mac and windows world together

The OP asked for opinions. You do not need to apologize for offering an opinion backed up with detailed experience.

What is frowned upon is using the forum to deceptively push product that you gain financially from.

Other posters have explained that BootCamp allows you to install Windows directly on your Mac, just as if you were using a real PC (but only one at a time), while VMware Fusion (and Parallels) create an environment in which Windows can run like any other program on your Mac, with MS Office running inside it.

But as with real PC's, if your Windows installation in BootCamp gets thoroughly screwed up by a virus or some software you shouldn't have installed, you'll have as much trouble as you would with a real PC trying to get it straightened out. With Fusion, the Windows Virtual Machine is basically a big file on your Mac's hard disk, and, as such, is something you can simply make a copy of. If the original gets trashed, simply delete it and use the backup instead. Even better, if you're doing something in Windows you have some doubts about, you can first take a "snapshot" of the current state, and then if things go bad, simply revert to the snapshot. If you're satisfied with your changes, you can delete the snapshot and keep your more recent state. Try doing that with a real PC.😉