If your not aware, on any operating system you can run a virtual operating system on top of the one your currently running. Practically any operating system can be used as a virtual appliance including Windows 7. Windows 7 is the current version of Microsoft's Operating System and is deemed as the successor of Windows Vista. Windows 7 however may not be the best choice for running as a virtual machine. Windows 7 requires at least 1 gb to run at a decent speed, if you are planing on using it for gaming then expect to use at least 2gb. I am not saying that this is a terrible amount, however if you are running this while on a limited processing Macbook pro with 2gb of ram then you have already used half and chances are Snow Leopard/leopard will run slowly. I find that when I use Windows 7 on a 4gb Macbook Pro with 2.53ghz that it runs pretty smoothly for windows, however when using OSX it does feel like there is a slight performance decrease as expected. There is a solution towards getting it equal however, the best solution is to use Windows XP. Many people view XP as an outdated OS, however if the Operating System works well and all your looking to due is run office or any other program except games then this should work fine. If you are looking to run intense graphic games then you should really ask yourself the question is using parallels or Vmware the best way to game on a mac. The solution two a mac lover and a Windows Gaming Lover is to use Bootcamp and Windows 7. This insures that your getting a full experience for gaming with using only Windows on a separate partition. The outcome of using bootcamp is great for gamers because it allows them to fully use Windows with your graphics card and not shared with leopard.

Let's say that you have no choice and have Windows 7 already installed as a virtual machine there is actually a way that you can make it run smoother as well as making Snow Leopard/ Leopard run smoother. One thing that makes Windows 7 require very much memory/ video memory is the "Aero Glass Theme" if you disable this (although it doesn't look nice") it will increase both Window's and Mac's performance. To do this first right click on the desktop and choose personalize. Then scroll down to your themes and go under the category "Basic and High Contrast Themes" and either select "Windows 7 Basic" or "Windows Classic". I would recommend classic even more then basic to get the fastest result. By applying this theme you probably could limit memory to 512 mb or 1gb for a faster Windows 7 experience. If you don't like the look of the classic or basic you should really switch to Windows Xp. The style of the themes didn't look bad and you could get away with using 256 mb and have a great performance with 512 mb of ram. I also find that under XP if you apply the classic theme you probably could use 128 mb of ram. Needless to say if you must have Windows 7 with all the looks and feel and don't like using bootcamp purchase a Mac that is more expensive with more ram and a faster processor. I would recommend the imacs/mac pro's.

Steps Below:

Step One: Right Click on Desktop Hit Personalize (Click For Full Size Image)

Step Two: Scroll until you see "Basic and High Contrast Themes" and select either Windows 7 Basic orClassic (Click For Full Size Image)

Windows Classic Theme Shown (Click For Full Size Image)