I've used bootcamp to install Windows and Visual Studio. Things like the keyboard layout weren't ideal, but other than that it worked fine for me. This was a little while ago so I was using Windows XP. I can't imagine you'd encounter substantial problems with Windows 7/8 as long as you're using a legit copy.

I've read that bootcamped Macs essentially are PCs and even have Windows 7 on mine, but there are certain types of software that won't work on it (I am guessing because of the Mac architecture but really have no idea).

There aren't any differences in architecture - a good number of people run bootcamp'd MacBook Pros in preference to PC laptops.

The most likely candidate if software won't run is the graphics card. Most of the non-Pro MacBooks from the past few years have a fairly crappy Intel GPU, and it isn't really up to gaming.

There shouldn't be any differences between bootcamp and a dedicated Windows box, you're dual-booting so either Windows or OSXwill have complete control of the hardware. All modern Macs capable of bootcamp run on Intel architecture, the same architecture found in standard PCs. The keyboard layout is atypical, but functional under windows, and as far as trackpads go, Apple's is the hands-down best regardless of what OS the machine is running. If I'm not mistaken, the latest version of bootcamp (with the latest update of the latest OSX) has drivers for Win8.

Depending on which macbook you have, you might not have the greatest of video cards, but it won't matter for 2D games or simple-ish 3D games. This would be true of all versions of the macbook, macbook air, 13" macbook unibody and pro, and the 13" Retina macbook, but newer models (those with i-series processors) in this list will fare better than older models (with Core or Core 2-series processors). Any recent 15" macbook pro or Retina, or 17" macbook pro should have some form of dedicated graphics, and will be fine for more-intensive things.

I have a brand new top of the line macbook pro retina (15") and I can tell you from personal experience this is *not* a development worthy machine. It can run games like Diablo 3 reasonably well (~20fps) but for development you need much more processing power because your games will often not yet be optimized and you will be running with debug flags.

That said a good development machine doesn't have to break the bank, get a decent i5 with ~16+gigs of ram and a 460gtx+ and you'll be fine to develop anything outside of triple A visual quality games.

If you do decide to use your mac: disable integrated graphics while debugging (i've noticed it doesn't auto switch as well as with it does with normal games/apps) and also make sure you have a legitimate copy of windows 7, I've seen the pirate copies cause endless headaches for devs :/ Not to mention if you want to be a developer you shouldn't be pirating anything anyway, it robs all of us.

Instead of buying hardware without knowing if you need it. Try bootcamp first. If someday you think your macbook isnt enough for what you want to do, then you can see what to improve.

get a decent i5 with ~16+gigs of ram and a 460gtx+

So in other words, a less powerful processor than a 15" MacBook Retina, and the same amount of RAM, all to gain a 40% GPU bump?

Honestly, unless you are writing the next Crysis (and you probably shouldn't be), a decent MacBook is fine for game development.