Is dual boot worth-while?

handyman_hank

I'm a genetics PhD student. The word-processing and referencing software available for windows is more suitable (and more compatible with computers in the library etc.), but there's some genetics software that runs better on linux. (Currently i'm shopping for a laptop.) I know you can get virtual linux in things like cygwin, or you can get two whole operating systems installed on the one machine ("dual boot"?). Does dual boot have much advantage...

Originally asked by Kirt on Stack Exchange (superuser) (CC BY-SA 2.5).

uphilltech

Great question — answering as the UphillTech team:

Dual-booting will provide you with faster Linux than a true virtual solution (which Cygwin is not) because you will be dedicating your computer's entire processing power, etc to it. However, you will have to put up with the time it takes to shut down one operating system and boot the other whenever you need to switch. Running Linux in a virtual machine (such as VirtualBox ) will typically result in fewer issues simply because your hardware will be emulated so you will not likely have any driver incompatibilities. You do not need any special hardware to dual-boot, but I would recommend searching for the computer you are thinking about in the context of Linux issues to see if there are any...

Full answer by Emory Bell: https://superuser.stackexchange.com/a/157077 (CC BY-SA 2.5).

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