[X4U] parallels

[Mitchell Senft]

Continuing my series of simple questions from simple people:

We're contemplating a dual-boot MacBook so Parallels is very  
attractive (as opposed to BootCamp). Question is that I've read and  
read, including parsing the Parallels start guide, and I still have  
no idea exactly it works. Does it have to be booted like an app on  
startup every time? And I assume the Win apps get installed where  
apps normally get installed? Day to day, how easy is it to use?

Thanks,

Mitchell