Virtual Machine vs. Remote Desktop performance on 2012 MBPr MacBook specs:


i7 2.3ghz processor
256gb SSD
16gb RAM
Intel HD graphics 4000 


I am trying to write, compile, and run c# windows form apps on my Mac, and I'm having little to no success. I've done mono and I get it to start and run, but the program doesn't completely load/render and it crashes every time I attempt to log in to my database. I've also tried Wine and I couldn't even get the app to start. I have visual studio installed on my MB and I've noticed that the Mac OS version of VS doesn't include the drag-and-drop form builder that is included in the Windows version, which I'm assuming is because you can't build a "windows" app on a Mac.

I'm wondering if it would be a better decision to Remote Desktop to a windows pc or run a VM on my MBP? I feel like the VM would be more convenient but storage is an issue with only 256gb SSD. Also, with an older processor + gpu I'm not sure what kind of perforce I can expect from VM as opposed to remoting into a windows desktop. I'm curious to hear what you do if you have experience in this matter, or if you have any particular advice. 

Additional questions:


If storage is an issue, would running a VM from a usb 3.0 flash drive be acceptable?
Oracle Virtualbox, Fusion, Parallel comparison?
Does anyone have experience with the Windows Remote Desktop client for Mac? Am I better off with this or a 3rd party app?
I ended up going with a Remote Desktop client for storage and performance reasons. Storage is obvious - my MBP is very limited with a small SSD. Performance reasons for choosing Remote Desktop were because it is effectively two CPUs, GPUs, and Hard Drives - essentially doubling my specs. Here's the process I took:


I bought a Lenovo IdeaCentre 510a with my desired specs and replaced the optical drive with an SSD.
I upgraded to Windows 10 Pro. This is crucial. To use Windows Remote Desktop, the computer you are remoting into needs to have Windows 10 Pro, Ultimate, or Enterprise.
I downloaded the Windows Remote Desktop client for Mac from the Mac OS app store and configured it with some help from this MSDN documentation.


Following those steps will giving you access to remote into your machine as long as you are on the same network. If you want to access your machine from an outside network (school, coffeeshop, hotel, etc.) then you will need to look into one of the following:


VPN
Port forwarding
RD Gateway
Azure VM (see comments below)