Can someone please give me the idiots guide to virtual machines?

I have a macbook pro 15 2010 version.  8 gb RAM, 300 GB drive.  Drive is set up with 200 GB allocated to OS/x (yosemite) and 100 GB partitioned as a bootcamp partition with windows 7 pro loaded.

Most of what i do I use OS/x - but I use the bootcamp / windows 7 to run auto cad lite 2009, some structural analysis software, and a database program for running skeet shoots.  All that good stuff is installed and runs fine - but rebooting back and forth is a PITA.

Does parallels solve my problem?  Since Windows 7 is already loaded on the bootcamp partition, do i need to reload it again for parallels?

I understand I have to dedicate some amount of RAM to the Parallels VM machine.  If I need the RAM for something can I turn off Parallels temporarily and recapture the RAM for use?  

Both Parallels and Fusion can boot from your boot camp partition.
There should be no need to reinstall anything. You just create a new Virtual Machine, point it to your boot camp partition and boot it up.
Boot up Windows 7 as needed, quit Fusion (or Parallels) when you are done.
I run Windows 7 via VMWare Fusion on my Mac's and it has worked great for me.
You can run Windows 7 in full screen mode, in a window, or even as separate apps/integrated window mode (called Unity on Fusion)
You don't even need to shut Windows 7 down when you are done. You can "pause" the OS (puts it to sleep so-to-speak) so when you launch it again, it's right where you left off, no need to wait for the OS to boot up or anything.

Personally, I prefer VMWare Fusion, but Parallels has worked well for me in the past as well.

Thank you.  Is there something about the VMware you find better or more user friendly than parallels?

I use parallels with no issues.  No experience with VM.  I think both are good but my post count needs boosting

I downloaded parallels.  So far I'm not particularly happy.  It seems extremely slow.  I installed it on the bootcamp partition and have it running in optimized for speed (ha!) mode.  It seems to take about 5 minutes or so to open autocad lite.  I have not attempted to actually work on a drawing file yet.  The mouse cursor seems to hang and then jump across the screen when the system is ready for it.  That wont be good in autocad trying to draw or move a line.

Im hoping it improves as the system settles in.

It started out using 190% of the cpu, last time i looked after a reboot it was using 110% with nothing running.

Do you ever shut parallels down, or just suspend if youre shutting the system down or rebooting?

Do you ever do a pure reboot into bootcamp and run windows native?

I use Parallels and it works fine.  Yes, it's a bit slow but I like the capability of going from my Mac to Windows.

Youtube; pcclassesonline has an excellent tutorial on VMs as well as a number of programs for PC and Macs.

I use Fusion and like it but I'm a VMware guy.

I've never used Parallels.

Some of it was memory allocation.  Parallels installed allocating 1 gb of ram to the vm.  I've reset to 4gb.  We'll see if that helps.

It still seems confused if the mouse cursor is on the autocad screen, or if its on the os/x screen.

Still takes a couple minutes from clicking on autocad icon, to an open autocad screen ready to open a drawing file.

Suspect pilot error is a major player here.  

If you are using a standard mechanical hard drive you will probably see some slowness issues as well.  It may not support the I/O required for what you are trying to do.

The next improvement I'm thinking of is an SSD.  As soon as I can get a better idea of exactly what steps I need to go follow to create the mac drive image, and the bootcamp image and migrate everything I may start accumulating enclosures and cables.  Looks like you can get a decent 500gb SSD for around $300.   I don't do a lot of images or videos and I don't do any gaming so I can't see the need for terabyte sized drives.

Of course I still think a 70 mb drive is big, so there's that.

From what I understand though for a mid 2010 macbook 8gb of ram is it.  Some folks have had marginal luck with 12, though apple doesn't support it.

I'm not sure I'd invest much money in a 4 year old laptop.

An SSD would really benefit you but I wouldn't drop $300 on one.

Is this for business use or school?

Business use.  Long story, but basically home office consulting engineering.  I don't need BIM or 3-d at this point.

Depending on where things go a computer upgrade isn't too far down the line.  Auto cad is available now for the mac, but I have other software that is windows only.  From a pure business standpoint a windows machine would be less trouble, but I've gotten to like the mac and os/x.  It may be that I just need a basic windows desktop unit and leave the laptop for on-site work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlURT4cfUGM

Above might help

Thanks, will watch that in a bit.  

Seems to be ok right now.  Autocad is running, though I have the jerky mouse issue that seems to be a very common complaint with autocad / parallels. Its not unusable, but very irritating. I'm working my through the fixes people have implemented.  It may be due to interference with anti-virus software, or graphics accelerator issues, or something entirely different.  There are numerous complaints on the parallels forums about it, and on the autocad forums.

If i get parallels running smoothly I can see there is a lot of software I have loaded on bootcamp that could just go away since it would be unlikely i'd ever be running in native windows.

I've got a mid-2010 MBP. Parallels was always way too slow for me. I have access to a current copy of Auto CAD for Mac (if you can get that it's the way to go). I only use Windows for one thing now (bootcamp) and that is programming Motorola radios.

CrossOver is something else to look into. It is essentially WINE for Mac with pay-for support. I liked it while I had it. It basically emulates the windows environment (for the program) but you only see the program window running.