Windows 7 install on NEW macbook pro

siafu said:

Hi All.

I would like to try and install windows 7 on my new computer.

Are there step by step instructions somewhere? I am somewhat noob and would like very detailed instructions. so i dont screw anything up.

also when windows 7 is downloaded do i have to put it on a cd before i begin the install process?

all help and advice is appreciated.

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Under Applications->Utilities go to Boot Camp Assistant. It will walk you through the setup with step by step instructions you can even print. Just do what is says for Vista. I just installed Windows 7 RTM from MSDN on my Boot Camp partition and I love it! Performs much better than my previous Vista install.

Just install it just like Vista. Use the Boot Camp Utility. Just installed the RTM on two of my Macs.

siafu said:

ok. so last thing is do i need to put windows on a dvd before i start the install process or can i do it from where it was downloaded on to the desktop.

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It needs to be burned onto a disk.

i have windows 7 installed under vmware fusion. it runs pretty snappy.

do you guys recommend to run it under bootcamp or virtual? i like the idea of running both OS at once if needed to.

32 bit or 64 bit

is it the 32 bit or 64 bit version version that you installed?

I'm currently running alu iMac (model 7.1, august 2007, core 2 extreme 2.8ghz, 4gb ram) and am in the market for a laptop, either going to go for a dell studio 15 or macbook pro.

How did you find it compared to vista? did you have any problems with the drivers?

i installed the 64 bit windows 7. i like it better than vista. more responsive than vista.

polobreaka said:

do you guys recommend to run it under bootcamp or virtual? i like the idea of running both OS at once if needed to.

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You can install Windows 7 with bootcamp and then set up VMWare Fusion to run the bootcamp partition as a virtual machine. This is how I have it set up on my Macbook Pro, I can run the very same install of Windows 7 from either VMWare Fusion or bootcamp.

what is the benefit of doing this? wouldnt it be the same as just booting in vmware?

I have windows7 x64 running in bootcamp and win7 x86 running in VMware.

I didn;t have any real problems with x64. The bluetooth drivers were a little tricky. If you have a bluetooth keyboard, you have to delete it off your osx and pair to win7 first then repair to osx afterwards to work. No idea why but thats how i got it to work.

There are a few programs I use that are not CPU intensive but require 32bit for school. This way I can keep running osx unless I need x64 in win7. The only reason to have 64bit in bootcamp is for games.

polobreaka said:

what is the benefit of doing this? wouldnt it be the same as just booting in vmware?

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No, big difference running it natively vs running it via virtualization. With Bootamp Windows gets direct access to the hardware. With VMare it has to go through OS X.

polobreaka said:

what is the benefit of doing this? wouldnt it be the same as just booting in vmware?

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No he can boot directly into windows, or he can boot into OSX and then use vmware to do things in windows. He was just saying that you don't have to install via bootcamp, and then do another install through vmware. You can just partition the drive via bootcamp and then point vmware to boot windows 7 from that partition as a virtual machine. Killing 2 birds with 1 stone per se.

here is a very step by step walkthrough of how to install Windows 7. You really just need to start the bootcamp utility, partition the drive, and then follow the onscreen steps. You shouldn't have too much trouble. But since you are partitioning the HDD, you may want to do a backup of your data ahead of time. Not 100% necessary, but 100% recommended. If something goes wrong you are either going to be kicking yourself in the head or you are going to be patting yourself on the back.