Running Windows / PC Software on my new Mac

I've recently converted to Mac - delighted to be here - but sadly need to be able to run specialist mathematical modelling software only written for PC's. I'm very reluctant to purchase a PC just for this purpose, so wondered what experience people have of using the various software such as Bootcamp, etc for running less mainstream PC applications on a Mac (some of the software I use is very processor hungry). I understand some of these products create virtual environments and others are coded to work more closely with the Mac Hardware (Bootcamp)? Can anybody give me some pointers / advice? Many thanks in advance!

If your application is a heavy resource user, install Windows using Bootcamp Assistant. This method of installation creates a Windows partition that natively uses all your computer's hardware when running Windows. It is as though you have changed your Mac into a PC. The disadvantage of this method of installation is that if you want to change to OSx you have to reboot your computer.
In a virtualized Windows installation (Fusion, Parallels, Virtual Box) Windows shares your computer's resources with OSx. So Windows does not have full use of all the computer's RAM for example. The advantage of a virtualized installation is that you don't have to reboot to start using the other OS.
My advice given the heavy resource usage of your application is to install Windows using Bootcamp Assistant then install Fusion or Parallels and use the Bootcamp installation as the virtual target OS. This way you have the best of both types of installations without the disadvantages of either. So if you want to run your resource heavy app you boot into Windows, otherwise you access your Windows installation through Fusion or Parallels.

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