Just got my first Mac! ? on Parallels, Boot Camp, and Paritioning

LABachlr

LABachlr

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I just got my first Mac and love it! It's a Black Macbook Dual Core 2 2GH 2GB RAM 120GB hard drive.

I'm about to reformat it (bought it used) and had a few questions:

1. Should I partition the hard drive?

I've been a PC user for a while (even thought I prefer Mac), and am used to partitioning the HD so that the OS and programs are on 1 partition, and the data is on the other. That way, in case something happens, you just have to reformat the C drive and not have to touch or backup/restore the data because it is on a separate partition.

2. Parallels or Bootcamp?

I am not a gamer, so I don't know if I necessarily need boot camp. Although, if Windows runs slower in Parallels, then I might want to go the boot camp route. Which do you prefer and why?

3. Or should I just keep my Mac a Mac and use my PC laptop when I have a need for PC apps?

Please advise.
 
1.) No.
2.) Parallels. If you're not much into games, it's clear that it's the more convenient solution.
3.) That'd work as well, of course.
 
I agree with Fryke on 2 & 3, but I would suggest that partitioning the drive as you suggest. It is good practice to keep data and system on separate partitions, that way a wipe and install will not remove data files.
 
One more alternative is to use VMware fusion.
http://www.vmware.com/beta/fusion/index.html
You can get a beta serial for them, the program is still open.
I'll personally go with VMware when I want something else installed, as I don't like rebooting when I only need an application or two in other OS so I can keep using OS X and do whatever I need in Linux or Solaris (or even Windows) just with that.
 
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