Apple will officially support Windows 7 in Boot Camp before end of year

Of course plenty of folks have Windows 7 running in Boot Camp just fine, but if you're one of those crazies that goes in for Apple's seal of approval you'll have to wait a little bit. The official support is coming "before the end of the year" to Snow Leopard and will obviously require an update to the Boot Camp software. Unfortunately, Apple's excluded a lot of its 2006 Intel-based computers from this forthcoming update, and we're getting the vibe that this is a Snow Leopard-only affair. Basically, par for the Apple course.

[Via Mac Rumors]

[finndo77 Posted Oct 23rd 2009 7:27AM]

what's a boot camp? I thought bootcamps were for certification trainings

[mugatu Posted Oct 22nd 2009 10:30PM]

David Pogue says it runs great with Boot Camp.
http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/pogue-answers-reader-questions-on-windows-7/

"* Will Windows 7 run on a Mac?

DP says: Yes. It runs beautifully both in Boot Camp (where you restart the Mac as a full-blown PC) and in Parallels or Fusion (commercial programs that let you run Windows in a window, even though you’re actually running Mac OS X)."

[webterractive Posted Oct 23rd 2009 2:15AM]

I've been using Windows 7 on my iMac since I September 25, that's when I got the Snow Leopard disc which has Bootcamp 3.0 on it. It's ok as an OS but one thing I cannot understand from Windows is why it cannot adjust in font and size when it comes to larger screens. I'm using it on a 24inch Aluminum iMac and I have it set with 104% or 100dpi font it makes the OS much nicer on the eyes. Mac OS seems to adapt well when it comes to larger screens with Windows it's either 96dpi which is pretty small or 125% which is too excessively large.

[Phoenix Posted Oct 23rd 2009 3:22AM]

...I don't know why I keep looking at the comments of Mac/Windows articles.

All there ever is is bitching and arguments from both sides, and blocks of grey and blue.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 23rd 2009 4:29AM]

I didn't use boot camp to install Win7 RC on my first gen unibody MBP. You can do a normal install during startup, since I believe Win7 now supports EFI. Regardless, you still need to use the old Vista drivers.

Everything I use on a daily basis runs fine in Win7 with those drivers, but I do have one gripe. The CPU and GPU temperatures rise drastically. When I'm in OSX, the idle temperature is around 45c and 65c or so on load. When I'm in Win7, idle temps hover around 65c and load temps easily reach 85-90c. I know those temps aren't hitting the limits, but they're too high for my tastes. And I'd rather not have the fans spinning away at a very high RPM to lose a few degrees. The drivers only support the hotter 9600gt in the MBP, so hopefully the upcoming drivers fix those issues.

[justinofthemoss Posted Oct 23rd 2009 4:45AM]

i'm a little confused by something that's probably pretty major in the computer OS battle.

what exactly defines a "PC?"
isn't it just a computer that runs windows?

if so, then wouldn't running windows on a mac instantly transform it into a PC?

[WhyNot Posted Oct 23rd 2009 8:18AM]

I'd love for someone to answer this question for me...why does Apple give the appearance of "bashing" Windows through their commercials yet come out with a press release or what not saying that bootcamp will support Windows 7? Doesn't that kind of go against their own product?


New Commercial: "Hi, I'm a Mac and I'm here to tell you that while we have our own OS that we tell you is superior to that of the Windows OS we actually support Windows so you can forgo using our OS whenever you like. You may find need at times to use Windows because our OS doesn't support all programs out there."



To the folk mentiong windows users installing Quicktime, Safari, iTunes, etc. onto their machines...I'll join the club to say that I don't. I installed quicktime on my computer once because something required it and after about the 3rd or 4th time I got an update window popping up that wanted to also install iTunes on my machine, I uninstalled it and haven't looked back. For browsing, there are enough other programs out there that I don't have to choose Safari over IE (which I don't use either except at work where I'm required to) and tend to Firefox or Chrome. So again, not everyone installs Apple software on their computers.


To the person that asked about what a "PC" is....simply it is a personal computer. What has changed with that is it somehow became synonymous with the windows operating system (or more accurately, non-apple OS systems). Your confusion is warranted and understood. To add to it, if it was possible to install an Apple OS onto a "PC" would that in turn transform it intoa Mac?


In summary and in my humble opinion, buy a Mac if you want a sterile looking all white computer that is severely overpriced with an okay OS and will be difficult to upgrade. Or buy a less expensive computer that comes in a variety of flavors, is more customizable, more easily upgraded, has more support (albeit not always the best depending) and also has an okay OS. And lastly, if you "build" your own rig, well, odds are good you're going to save more money, have a 3rd choice for an OS, but probably still will run Windows.

[Jack Posted Oct 23rd 2009 1:28PM]

It's called "having choice". Apple gives you the choice to run OS X AND Windows natively on the same hardware, fully supported and legally. That's more than you can say for any other company, period. The reason Apple does this is to get more people to buy Macs. It's pretty much that simple. Apple isn't a charity, they're a business. They need people to buy their hardware. This is one of the ways they achieve that.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 23rd 2009 11:32AM]

Where can I find that wallpaper?

[joshsc Posted Oct 23rd 2009 11:28AM]

"It allows Mac users to run either operating system, but it reportedly slows down Windows 7 considerably. Apple has now admitted this and said it will need to upgrade Boot Camp before Windows 7 will work well on it."

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1559645/apple-delays-upgrading-boot-camp-windows

[Jack Posted Oct 23rd 2009 2:15PM]

I've been running Win 7 RC for a few months in Boot Camp now. Boot Camp 3 on the Snow Leopard disc restored all the drivers I needed. Haven't had any problems.

[EllimistX Posted Oct 23rd 2009 2:55PM]

Last I remember, there was a problem with Windows 7 64-bit installing under Boot Camp. Don't know if that's been fixed already, but if it hasn't they'd have to fix it now.

[ZeroCorpse Posted Oct 24th 2009 1:25PM]

I ran Windows 7 on my aluminum MacBook, and it was great.

In fact, it inspired me to switch to PC, because I liked Windows 7 RC so much and found myself spending more time using Windows than OS X. I sold my MacBook and got an ASUS gaming laptop with WAY more features and power, and for several hundred dollars less than the MacBook.

It's not as pretty as the MacBook, but then this isn't a beauty contest. I wanted something that works well and offers the most bang for the buck. Looks don't matter in computers; Only performance versus price.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 24th 2009 2:24PM]

I have Windows 7 Ultimate x64 running on my mid 2007 mini with 1 GB RAM. I works perfectly in Boot Camp. I actually have it set up primarily running 7 to watch Media Center in the living room.

[bdav Posted Nov 11th 2009 6:52AM]

Maybe my last-gen MBP non-multitouch trackpad will do 2-finger right click now. And maybe track/accelerate at the right speed.

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 12th 2009 12:39AM]

I run win 7 exclusively on my macbook pro.. runs so well i stopped using OSX completely once i realized that it blows.. been running it for over a year, i used to have issues with the computer not waking up from sleep but now with snow leopard and RTM works perfect.. osx is lame.

[sharples696 Posted Dec 10th 2009 6:59PM]

when is this going to take place? steve i'm sure they haven't handed you a dirty install!