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Just posting this question to ask this: Which is better, dual booting a Macbook (mid 2007 2,1 model) with Ubuntu (latest supported release 12.04) or is it just as good using a Virtual Machine such as Virtual Box or Parallels?

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Questions of opinion are generally frowned-upon, but I think this will be OK. – ObsessiveSSOℲ Aug 4 '12 at 18:17
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Define "better." Dual boot is "better" in that Ubuntu will run faster and have direct access to the hardware, but a VM is "better" in that you don't have to reboot to switch OSs and you can use both at once. – Kevin Aug 4 '12 at 18:19

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If i were you i would dual boot. Running Ubuntu in a Virtual Machine won't give you the full experience and the full glamour of running Ubuntu in dual boot.

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I prefer VMs and use Mac/Parallels every day to run Windows and Linux on a Macbook Pro (2011).

VM gives you history snapshots (great for safeguarding your VM environments) and you can just close/reopen them quickly instead of shutting down/rebooting the OS. And Parallels lets you flick between the VM windows or even run them mixed in same window ('coherence').

I did try bootcamp but found no speed benefit (Windows running Visual Studio dev environment), VM feels just a quick.

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