Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

yoyoma1992

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 20, 2012
30
0
So I heard someone was saying Windows 7 Bootcamp isn't working that well on the 2012 macbook air? Something about benchmarks being low compared to os x? I'm not really sure what's going on with that, anyone care to explain?:(
 

Galatian

macrumors 6502
Dec 20, 2010
336
69
Berlin
I haven't installed Windows 7 on my MacBook Air so far, but on my old MacBook Pro there still is the problem of proper AHCI support, so my SSD had to be tricked to run in AHCI mode on the nvidia chipset. It's all a bit of a mess as Windows doesn't support the EFI that Apple uses and hence you'll have to go through BIOS emulation. I really hope this will change with Windows 8 but I'm not holding my breath.

Point is Windows can run slower then compared to OS X because of these workarounds, but it really is not limited to the new MacBook Air.
 

kodeman53

macrumors 65816
May 4, 2012
1,091
1
So I heard someone was saying Windows 7 Bootcamp isn't working that well on the 2012 macbook air? Something about benchmarks being low compared to os x? I'm not really sure what's going on with that, anyone care to explain?:(

The issue is that the Bootcamp drivers do not recognize Boost mode with one of the CPUs options for the 2012 MBA. A search will get you the details.
 

yoyoma1992

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 20, 2012
30
0
The issue is that the Bootcamp drivers do not recognize Boost mode with one of the CPUs options for the 2012 MBA. A search will get you the details.

Is this AHCI thing they are talking about? So i did a littl research, does anyone know if enabling the AHCI for windows on MBP 2011 method woks for MBA 2012?
 

goinskiing

macrumors 6502a
Jun 25, 2008
914
11
Meridian, ID
The 2012 core i7 is not going into turbo boost mode while the i5 ones are. Also, the multipliers are wrong for the core i7 which leaves a max clock of 1.9 GHz instead of 2.0. Apple has confirmed this as a bug and a fix is in the works.
 

CoteRotie

macrumors newbie
Jul 11, 2012
1
0
Any updates on this? Has anyone had any success with any of the Intel drivers? Anyone have any info on when Apple might release a fix? I just ordered a new i7 Macbook Air and for various reasons I need to run Windows on it and I need the best performance I can get for running light simulations and MATHCAD apps.

Thanks!
 

oxfordguy

macrumors 6502a
Feb 27, 2008
503
4
Oxford, England
The i7 non-turbo boost in Windows thing definitely sucks, but I'm hoping Apple will fix this Mountain Lion. More of an issue for me was that I had a hell of a job getting Windows 7 to install on my 2012 MBA in the first place.

Also - even though I finally managed to install and successfully activate it, it still take ages (for a machine with an SSD) to boot into Windows - it sits for ages (well up to 30-60 seconds) showing nothing but a black screen before I see the Windows logo. Has anyone else experienced this? My old early-2008 (which does have an SSD) doesn't do this, it boots into Windows 7 in about 12-15 seconds and this in on slower 1.5Gbs SATA... :(
 

KPOM

macrumors P6
Oct 23, 2010
18,023
7,867
Also - even though I finally managed to install and successfully activate it, it still take ages (for a machine with an SSD) to boot into Windows - it sits for ages (well up to 30-60 seconds) showing nothing but a black screen before I see the Windows logo. Has anyone else experienced this? My old early-2008 (which does have an SSD) doesn't do this, it boots into Windows 7 in about 12-15 seconds and this in on slower 1.5Gbs SATA... :(

It takes longer than booting into OS X. However, 30-60 seconds of a black screen does seem long. Did you install the Intel graphics drivers from their site? On last year's version, doing so increased the boot time. Switching back to the Boot Camp drivers helped.
 
Last edited:

oxfordguy

macrumors 6502a
Feb 27, 2008
503
4
Oxford, England
It take longer than booting into OS X. However, 30-60 seconds of a black screen does seem long. Did you install the Intel graphics drivers from their site? On last year's version, doing so increased the boot time. Switching back to the Boot Camp drivers helped.

No, am using the standard Bootcamp 4.0 drivers
 

tsboy69

macrumors regular
Aug 17, 2010
139
0
My work requires both Windows Outlook and Access so I had to purchase Windows 7 OEM, Parallels 7 and I had a copy of Office. This went into a 256/8/i7 13" Air.

The installation of Parallels first, then Windows, then Office went smoothly and I love it. I can bounce around from the Windows to the OS side seamlessly.

No delay in booting up or anything. I might say having Windows open is taking a bit more juice, but see NO delays or additional time needed for anything to boot, operate, or run.

Good luck!
 

goinskiing

macrumors 6502a
Jun 25, 2008
914
11
Meridian, ID
At the moment having a VM on the new i7 MBAs are the way to go. Once the chipset drivers are fixed (looking at you Intel) the Bootcamp native windows will again be a pleasant, fast, native experience, especially for gamers.

I'd be curious to see the geekbench numbers in windows 7 in a VM.
 

RightMACatU

macrumors 65816
Jul 12, 2012
1,423
1,132
192.168.1.1
My work requires both Windows Outlook and Access so I had to purchase Windows 7 OEM, Parallels 7 and I had a copy of Office. This went into a 256/8/i7 13" Air.

The installation of Parallels first, then Windows, then Office went smoothly and I love it. I can bounce around from the Windows to the OS side seamlessly.

No delay in booting up or anything. I might say having Windows open is taking a bit more juice, but see NO delays or additional time needed for anything to boot, operate, or run.

Good luck!

+1 here but with VMWare Fusion 4 (with awesome virtualized W/X/P icons)
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.