<p>I'm thinking about purchasing a Macbook Pro for engineering, and I understand most of the software is PC only.</p>
<p>I will be running Windows via VMWare Fusion, but I was wondering how resource-intensive this is. Would 2GB be enough or should I upgrade to 4?</p>
<p>should be fine, 4GB is not needed. BTW most Engineering software is first made for Linux, then ported to windows, so its better to run Linux and VM windows on it.</p>
<p>VMware is all built of a Linux foundation. The Windows and Mac Fusion Variants are Lacking.</p>
<p>Hi - I've been in a similar situation. I'm an EE (junior) major and I have a MacBook (2GB, OS X Leopard). I used Parallels to run XP to run the programs I needed (such as PSpice, Matlab -- this was until I could get it for Mac OS X, and MS Visio).</p>
<p>My thoughts: if you want the MBP, get it - it won't be of disadvantage to you. You can run both OS's at the same time, but you might take a little hit in performance. I've tried running some programs through Parallels and I simply hated virutalizing operating systems. I didn't enjoy it and it made running my tasks noticeably slower. In hindsight, I wish I had gotten a tablet PC (which will be crazy helpful for you as an engineering major) or simply a Windows-based laptop. I don't hate my MB, but wish I had a Windows based computer.</p>
<p>2GB should be fine. If you do get 4GB, buy and install it yourself.</p>