Rumors About Boot Camp

I've got a MBP and have used it. In my experience its been fine, don't worry. :)

It won't slow it down. I don't currently have it installed (quite a long story), but have for like 2 years until yesterday (if you wanna know that long story, lemme know, and no, it was not a 'bad' experience). I didn't notice any slow downs with it, or speedups without it.

Here is why installing Windows on your MacBook won't slow it down. There is a function that is available to nearly every operating system regarding storage management, and one of those features is being able to partition the hard drive. When you partition the hard drive, it take a section of the drive (to the size that you specify), and it completely separates it from the other partition. Essentially, you have two "hard drives" in your computer at this point.

You already have OS X on one partition, and when Bootcamp guides you through the steps, you'll install Windows on the second partition. Apple doesn't really allow you to run both partitions at once, so you don't have to worry about the spindle on your hard drive having to move greater distances to access the files (Which in time will likely cause a hardware malfunction). I think that partitioning a hard drive is a wonderful feature!

The bottom line is that installing Windows in Bootcamp will NOT slow down your computer. There are definitely benefits to having two operating systems on one computer, and if you feel like you need an application that's on Windows, Bootcamp is a wonderful way to get the fastest speed out of the applications (compared to running them virtually).