Hey Mark,
The NAS sounds good. I just looked up the VMWare Fusion and it states 10.8 or later as the requirement to run the software.
Unless there's an older version...?
Yes, VMWare 3 will work.
Here are the specs and below is a link where you can get it:
Fusion 3.x
Any Mac with an Intel processor
Mac OS X 10.5.8 or 10.6.3, either Client or Server
Note: VMware recommends running the latest version of OS X 10.5 or 10.6. For information about OS X 10.7 (Lion), see VMware Fusion 3 support for Mac OS X Lion (10.7) (2003715).
Operating system installation media (disc or disc image) for a virtual machine
Note: Windows operating systems are available separately from Microsoft and other retailers.
1 GB of RAM
Note: VMware recommends at least 2 GB of RAM. You need enough memory to run Mac OS X, plus the memory required for each guest operating system and for other applications running on the Mac and in the virtual machine. For more information, see Investigating virtual machine resources in VMware Fusion (1022213).
700 MB of free disk space for VMware Fusion and at least 5 GB of free disk space for each virtual machine
Recommended graphics hardware for Windows Aero support
To experience Windows Aero 3D graphics, you need one of these graphics cards:
ATI Radeon 2600 or better
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M or better
For more information, see Getting Started with VMware Fusion 3.
You can get VMWARE Fusion 4 here:
VMWare 3Should work for you. Get Windows whatever, load VMware, and try it.
You might like it.
But if you are skeptical just go out and get yourself a GOOD Windows machine with 8.1 Pro and some good monitors. You'll begin working on it, for sure, particularly when using Z Series Printers.
You won't need the NAS if you go with VMWare, but it is a great piece of device either way. The NAS creates a bridge between the two operating systems and is an image repository (Raid 5).
You might be better served in the long run to get a Windows machine and the NAS - you'll be safest that way.
That's about all I can say - up to you.
-Mark