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i need to use visual studio and a few other windows programs but i am now looking at getting an iMac. Can someone recommend the best solutions for being able to use these windows programs from a mac.

I see that there is bootcamp built into the mac operating system but i am unclear if that is the best solution from a workflow point of view (switching back and forth)

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Virtualisation software such as VMware Fusion, Parallels or Virtual Box will allow you to run windows "in a Window". They work very well.

I recommend VMWare, as best performance-wise, and has some advanced features which make the file exchange between OS's almost seam-less. VirtualBox is less user friendly, but still works well and is free.

Note that for this to work well you need plenty of RAM. I'd recommend 4GB as a minimum.

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so do i need to buy a seperate copy of windows to get this to work ? – leora Jul 30 '11 at 19:44
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You need to buy a separate copy of Windows to do this legally. – dan8394 Jul 30 '11 at 19:44
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As an extra tip - often Windows XP will be sufficient for your needs - it is resource lighter, speedier, and is cheap to obtain via online retailers such as amazon. – dan8394 Jul 30 '11 at 19:46

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