You can run GN4 on iMac computers either in a virtual machine solution, VMWare Fusion (http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/overview.html) or Parallels (see comparison results on http://arstechnica.com/features/2012/09/parallels-desktop-8-and-vmware-fusion-5-pro-review-showdown/5/), or booting directly in Windows (through BootCamp).  The Macs MUST have an Intel processor (all new Macs do) and not the old PowerPC processors.

Parallels or Fusion are recommended if the customer already have Adobe licenses and when they're not valid on Windows (read here http://forums.adobe.com/message/3433663); moreover, users may have preferences for OS X environment

VMWare Fusion solution

The resources on iMacs with 4GB of RAM and 4 processor cores can be split in half, offering 2GB of RAM and 2 CPU cores to the Windows VM and the Max OS X operating system.

Positives of VMWare Fusion / GN4 environment

•Both Mac and Windows operating systems are running at the same time, allowing the user to switch between Mac and Windows applications seamlessly

•The software offers a shared folder for both desktops.  In other words, if a user opens Photoshop on the Mac, alters an image, and then places it in this folder on the Mac desktop, it becomes immediately available in the Windows OS for Fred to perform the upload into GN4.  Also, if they check multimedia or files out of GN4 to windows, placing it in this folder allows them to open it in a Mac application.

Negatives of VMware Fusion / GN4 environment

•The available resources of both operating systems divide the machine into two. If a user only uses Windows applications while OS X is sitting idle, OS X is still using half of the computers resources.  You can adjust the amount allocated to Windows vs OS X but both must meet the minimum requirements or it wont run properly.  (Ex. You could probably get away with giving 3 GB of RAM and 3 CPU cores to the Windows VM but the Mac side will be very sluggish). Hard drive space must also be split and cannot be shared between the two operating systems other than using the shared folder approach listed above.

•The display drivers are emulated rather than running natively. This results in odd behavior in Windows with artifacts and colors sometimes becoming skewed. Obviously, this type of behavior will differ depending on what Mac hardware / GPU you are running Fusion on. Searching the internet, newer Macs seems to behave better with the VMware Fusion windows drivers.

•You may see examples of Windows fonts disappearing from the VM without warning but there's no any documentation on this being a VMWare Fusion bug.

Parallels solution

Used by more GN4 customers. Video performances are very good. See also the comparison between Fusion and Parallels http://arstechnica.com/features/2012/09/parallels-desktop-8-and-vmware-fusion-5-pro-review-showdown/5/

Miles 33 recommends this product when you need to use OS X and Windows in parallel.

For the memory, we recommend 4Gb +4Gb, as with 4Gb only split in two you might notice slow-downs.

Boot Camp solution

If users never leave the Windows environment, you can opt for Boot Camp (http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp) installation. Boot Camp comes free on the OS X disc that comes with the computer and allows you to install a Windows partition on the Mac and boot DIRECTLY into Windows. Here is the breakdown for a Boot Camp Mac environment:

Positives of Boot Camp / GN4 environment

•The computer boots directly into Windows when powering on and runs natively on the hardware. In other words, instead of using the VMware emulation drivers, you download the device drivers directly from the manufacturer (in VMWare you need to use the standard VMQare display drivers which may result in some of the odd display issues listed above). With Boot Camp, you can download the latest drivers directly from ATI (the display cards manufacturer) and the display looked gorgeous with no issues at all.

•You are able to utilize 100% of the computers resources. Instead of Windows running with 2GB of RAM and 2 CPU cores, it utilized the full power of the iMac (4GB of RAM and 4 CPU cores). In this setup, you still need to partition the hard drive but you can use more of it than in VMware (90/10 going to the Windows partition)

•GN4 ran faster and smoother than the VMWare install (most likely due to the increased resources listed above)

Negatives of Boot Camp / GN4 environment

•Only makes sense if the user has no need to access Mac applications. You can still boot into OS X but it requires doing a full computer restart. This means you cant toggle between Windows and Mac applications seamlessly.

•If the computers haven’t already been purchased, it makes no sense to buy a Mac to run Windows only. You can buy an equivalent Windows only PC for much cheaper than Mac computers.

 

Conclusion

The VMWare environment is a workable solution if the users have a need to use both Mac and Windows applications at the same time. The performance and look/feel of GN4 is much better in a native Windows environment (like Boot Camp). If your Mac hardware lifecycle is near to end, you may opt to replace it with PCs.