Most compatible and fastest running windows 7 applications on the 15" rMBP

I am a huge apple noob when it comes to their computers. Haven't used one since those big jellybean colored ones in 1998 i believe in school (holy crap that was 16 years ago). What is the very best way to run windows applications on the machine. Can I have both OS's installed and be able to dual boot and switch between them with or without restarting everytime i want to switch back and forth (preferably able to switch back and forth without constantly powering down)? Or is using some sort of emulation program good enough and fast enough and compatible enough to run 99% of windows only applications? What is the best way to do this basically?

I literally just received my brand new baby and it replaced an Asus ux32vd ultrabook, The Asus ZBP tried to imitate the MBP but now that I have the real thing it's just no contest. The fully decked out rMBP is so amazingly quick and surprisingly the i7-4960HQ + the GT 750m runs starcraft 2 for Mac natively in Mac OSX pretty darn good. At 1440x900 you can turn the settings on ultra and stay above 60 fps at 1920x1200 and ultra settings you average about 40-50 fps which is still easily playable for an RTS like starcraft 2 (this is what I normally play on except for large multiplayer games, then i turn the details to a custom setting with some on medium some on high and some on ultra to keep it smooth during the massive battles still 1200p tho) If you turn it to high instead of ultra you get over 60 fps majority of time. At 2880 x 1800 and medium quality you still get an amazing 40-60 fps depending how much action on screen. At high quality you get about 30 fps and it is a little too choppy. So if you must play with ultra and 60+ fps you can play sc2 on this notebook at 1440x900 if you don't mind an fps in the 40's and want ultra you can play in 1920x1200 if you must have an fps in the 60's and 1200p resolution you can play in High graphics. If you must play at the native 2880x1800 medium is the highest quality level this is playable.

This brings me to my other question of is it better to buy your games for the mac os x operating system if the game is available for it like the blizzard games are or is it better to buy all your games for windows and run windows as a dual boot or emulation? Whether its a full dual boot or emulation or whatever method depends on the answer to this first question.

 

If Windows gaming is your concern, you will want to install Windows through Apple's Bootcamp software and procedure. It will allow you to fully boot into Windows 7 (or Windows 8.1, bleh) bypassing OS X all together. Performance will be just like any other Wintel machine with the same hardware but you have to reboot. That is your best option if you want to play games as most titles released for OS X are sloppy ports and still have lots of bugs. In my experience, Blizzard titles are fine (I have been playing Diablo III under OS X for the past month, it seems to be as smooth and solid as the Windows version) but other, more complex 3D titles are better under Windows due to better coding.

Generally, when running programs (i.e. not games), you can install Windows under a virtual machine. Parallels 9 is an app that will allow you to run Windows from within OS X without having to reboot. Performance will be slower since your PC's resources will be used to run both OS's at the same time but it's fine for things like Office, MATLAB, etc. Just not games.

Your best route would be to install Windows 7 through Bootcamp and then Parallels 9. You can use Parallels to run the Windows 7 Bootcamp installation for when you want to just run a few programs and then you can reboot the MBP into Win 7 when you want to run games. Some OS X versions of games are fine. Blizzard titles tend to transfer over well, I've had luck with Valve titles as well (through Steam, Portal 2 runs fine, no different than on Windows for me), but most other games aren't ported over very well and should be run through Windows.

 

One thing to add is that if you're running Windows natively via Boot Camp, there is no graphic switching. Your discreet GPU is active all the time, so if you intend to go cordless in Windows, your battery life will, on average, be cut in half.