For BootCamp, you make the size you want.

Say you have a 240 solid state drive. Most people will make it half and half. So 120 for Mac and 120 for BootCamp. But keep in mind, Windows receives a LOT of security updates. Mac OS does not because it's a more secured system and not too many hackers are into hacking a Mac OS.

So Windows when first installed may only use 7gb of space. But after all of its updates, it maybe be over 10.

You obviously want a portable Mac, right? Are you looking brand new or used? Do you want an opitcal drive or not? As a MacBook Pro are the only current model that has an optical drive built in. Well even earlier models of MacBook Airs didn't have an optical drive. So keep that in mind when looking at a Mac. Granted you can purchase an external DVD drive, but having it built in is better.

Also, if you can afford it. Purchase an Other World Computing SSD. http://www.macsales.com Depending on what Mac you are going for, they have different type of SSD. If you go for the MacBook Air, then there's a non-standard type of hard drive. Where as with a MacBook Pro, it's the standard hard drive, thus a SSD would be cheaper. You fan fetch a 240GB OWC SSD for rather cheap on eBay. I have a 240 installed in the 2010 MBP and a 480 in the 2012 Mac Mini. Both are blazing fast... heck there's a 7 to 8 second boot time for the Mac Mini. And probably a 10 to 12 for the MBP.

Good luck on your purchase, ask any other questions here if you wish.

KOT

Boot camp takes up very little space. Its a utility that lets you partition the drive and install windows. How big is your hard drive? With my iMac's 1TB drive i originally gave 50% to both and regretted it because i never booted Mac OS. I should have given most to windows.

If you are just going to use windows for work then give most of the space to Mac OS.

Although I am in a different Business I run a Macbook Pro with Fusion and run lots of different automotive software including lots of programming an have absolutely no problems. I did upgrade to a Crucial SSD and it made a world of difference...

Another great thing about a virtual machine is I had two programs that conflicted badly with each other, there is no way to have both installed on the same machine, I created a 2nd virtual machine and installed 1 program on each, problem solved! This sure beats having 2 laptops, I can switch virtual machines in a matter of seconds

Never had a problem with MacbookPro and VMWare 5.0.4. Runs RTI and Lutron no problem.

We also recently went the other way. I have a PC that we loaded Mac OS on it. I haven't had time to put Savant on that yet. I love our Mac's but I think it's a little crazy to spend 1500+ per mac when we can get laptops for 300.

Here's a question for you... How long do you expect that $300 laptop to last in general? Battery included.

I bought a "broken" 2009 MBP 2 years ago for my g/f. I repaired it, installed Mac OS X and she's been using it ever since. She can also use it while on battery. Where as her old HP laptop would not hold a charge, despite being on the second set of batteries. The HP was probably a 2007 or 2008 and would only last 5 to 10 minutes on battery.

KOT

My 2008 Macbook's battery lasts maybe 15 minutes. It's the second battery I've put in it. First one was even worse towards the end. The hard drive that came with the computer died. I replaced it with an SSD drive (forget which one). The computer CONSTANTLY freezes and runs hot.

I'm not going to argue one whether Macs are better or PCs are better, just pointing out that Macs are not immune to the same problems that plague PC based machines.

Another vote for MBP with Windows 7. I've been running that combo just using boot amp for nearly 2 years without a hickup. I have mine set to auto boot into windows, too.

I understand your position. I would be upset too. Though the 2008 and older have a GPU problem. A friend of mine has a 2008 as well and last year it crapped out on him. But instead of buying a new one, he baked the logic board in the oven. A year later he's still using it.

KOT

I went from bootcamp to parallels, then back to bootcamp after non stop crashing, graphics rendering and windows activation issues.

Installed Fusion a few weeks ago, so far so good.
2012 Macbook pro (Retina).

Protip: If you are having an issue with a product, DO NOT tell tech support that you are using a mac. Had URC hang up on me once after I called them about a connection issue when trying to program a remote.
Called back, told them I was on a windows machine, they resolved the issue no problem.

Laptops are laptops. I'm going to disagree that the MacbookPro isn't a better computer but they all fail and really are only good for 3-4 years max. And if I'm buying them for a handful of people, I don't think 6 MacbookPro's every 4 years is something I want to deal with. I'd rather throw the laptops away.....but I do need Mac for Savant so there is that....