Don't think this has been mentioned - the screen brightness won't automatically dim in Windows 7 when your running on battery, which is quite annoying as all PC laptops have done this for years. Also I'm finding Windows 7 recongises my MacBook as a desktop pc for some reason.
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Anyone have a MacBook Pro & ONLY using Windows?
- Thread starter niytrus
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I've been running Windows 7 in Boot Camp on the new (mid-2010) 15" MBP Core i7 off and on for a while now, and I've noticed two annoyances:
-As mentioned before, the Windows drivers don't automatically switch graphics, so you're always using the power sucking discrete chip. I started to watch a movie in Windows last night before realizing I should switch back to OSX for this reason.
-The nice new inertial scrolling feature they added to the trackpad doesn't work in Windows 7. This is only annoying once you've gotten used to it
Besides some other small stuff, Windows 7 serves my purposes just fine (Zune, Media Center, and eventually AutoCAD and SolidWorks).
-As mentioned before, the Windows drivers don't automatically switch graphics, so you're always using the power sucking discrete chip. I started to watch a movie in Windows last night before realizing I should switch back to OSX for this reason.
-The nice new inertial scrolling feature they added to the trackpad doesn't work in Windows 7. This is only annoying once you've gotten used to it
Besides some other small stuff, Windows 7 serves my purposes just fine (Zune, Media Center, and eventually AutoCAD and SolidWorks).
As a windows based software developer, my life is inside windows, but ended up with a MBP as it offered the features no other laptop could offer, namely the mat high res screen; backlit kb; inbuilt camera; good battery life; solid performance. OSX was a bonus, which would enable me to delve into iphone dev too. The odd thing though, as much as I've tried to like OSX, I'm pretty disapointed after all the hype, when you're used to Win7. Am I sorry for my purchase? No way. The hardware is fantastic. With the same criteria, knowing that I'd dump OSX from the outset, I'd definitely do it again.
Banga.
Banga.
For what it's worth, I've got the lowest spec i5. Intending to upgrade the HDD, so still have the bog slow one, so don't let the HDD score sway you.
Processor: 6.8
Memory: 6.8
Graphics: 5.9
Gaming graphics: 5.3
Primary hard disk: 5.6
Banga
Windows 7 in MacMini
I am running Windows7 on a recent 2.53 MiniMac and it is great. I use this machine for MS Access (and the rest of Office 2007), 4th Dimension (in which I develop for Mac & Windows), Anquet Mapping, Fujitsu scanning and Dragon Naturally Speaking. The performance is good (minimum score 5.3 [Disk]) and the whole set-up is much smaller than the previous HP box. I do not have any games so the relatively poor graphics card is not a problem for me. I have previously run XP on an older MBP with similarly good results in bootcamp.
My day to day machine is a MBP running Snow Leopard, but as I have left a small Mac partition on the Mini, this gives me another Mac in the event of a crisis.
HTH
I am running Windows7 on a recent 2.53 MiniMac and it is great. I use this machine for MS Access (and the rest of Office 2007), 4th Dimension (in which I develop for Mac & Windows), Anquet Mapping, Fujitsu scanning and Dragon Naturally Speaking. The performance is good (minimum score 5.3 [Disk]) and the whole set-up is much smaller than the previous HP box. I do not have any games so the relatively poor graphics card is not a problem for me. I have previously run XP on an older MBP with similarly good results in bootcamp.
My day to day machine is a MBP running Snow Leopard, but as I have left a small Mac partition on the Mini, this gives me another Mac in the event of a crisis.
HTH
Hi all,
Considering purchase of a new MBP 17 i5, can anyone tell me what trackpad limitations exist for Windows 7 (bootcamp) compared from OSX? I have seached and searched but see nothing regarding if pinch to zoom even works via bootcamp trackpad drivers. I have found that inertial scroll is OSX only.
TIA,
Jason
Considering purchase of a new MBP 17 i5, can anyone tell me what trackpad limitations exist for Windows 7 (bootcamp) compared from OSX? I have seached and searched but see nothing regarding if pinch to zoom even works via bootcamp trackpad drivers. I have found that inertial scroll is OSX only.
TIA,
Jason
Thought I'd give my two cents here: I have a 2010 13" MacBook Pro, 2.4 GHz, with a 500GB drive, running both Win7 x64 and Snow Leopard.
While I prefer OS X for everyday stuff, Windows 7 on this machine is an excellent experience. I run a lot of engineering software on the Windows side (MATLAB, Ansoft, etc), and this little machine can take it all. It's also no slouch on gaming. I run a lot of Steam games (Team Fortress 2, Left4Dead 2, etc) and they play great on medium-to-high settings at native res with smooth playback. I can even overclock the 320m GPU with the Nvidia tools and drivers!
As for battery life, it sucks under Windows, it's true. I've managed to get more life out of the battery by undervolting. My power meter reads at least two hours more, around 5-ish hours. Also, get BatteryBar to replace the default power meter. Much more accurate and useful. Power Plan Assistant also helps with controlling the WiFi/BT radios, and the keyboard.
The drivers that Apple provides are ok, but I feel that they add to the poor battery life issue. If Apple produced better drivers, I think you'd see more battery life. That's what I've found in previous laptops: better drivers, more efficiency, better battery life.
If you want some decent replacement trackpad drivers (for unibody models), check out Trackpad++. They're from the same guy that makes Power Plan Assistant. I discovered it recently and have been using it, and it's much better than the stock Apple drivers. While still in beta, I've had good results with them. (no affiliation, just a big fan).
Some useful links:
Overclocking the 320m: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/904300/
Undervolting Guide (the one I used with great results): http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...arket-upgrades/235824-undervolting-guide.html
While I prefer OS X for everyday stuff, Windows 7 on this machine is an excellent experience. I run a lot of engineering software on the Windows side (MATLAB, Ansoft, etc), and this little machine can take it all. It's also no slouch on gaming. I run a lot of Steam games (Team Fortress 2, Left4Dead 2, etc) and they play great on medium-to-high settings at native res with smooth playback. I can even overclock the 320m GPU with the Nvidia tools and drivers!
As for battery life, it sucks under Windows, it's true. I've managed to get more life out of the battery by undervolting. My power meter reads at least two hours more, around 5-ish hours. Also, get BatteryBar to replace the default power meter. Much more accurate and useful. Power Plan Assistant also helps with controlling the WiFi/BT radios, and the keyboard.
The drivers that Apple provides are ok, but I feel that they add to the poor battery life issue. If Apple produced better drivers, I think you'd see more battery life. That's what I've found in previous laptops: better drivers, more efficiency, better battery life.
If you want some decent replacement trackpad drivers (for unibody models), check out Trackpad++. They're from the same guy that makes Power Plan Assistant. I discovered it recently and have been using it, and it's much better than the stock Apple drivers. While still in beta, I've had good results with them. (no affiliation, just a big fan).
Some useful links:
Overclocking the 320m: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/904300/
Undervolting Guide (the one I used with great results): http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...arket-upgrades/235824-undervolting-guide.html
Well I love my MacBook Pro and I would recommend a MacBook without a second thought to anyone, but ONLY if the person is using MacOS.
If you want to buy a MacBook because of the design, backlit keyboard, size feel etc. but then you would use it 75% of the time docked anyways? Well that is a VERY expensive 25% of Hardware you are using then. And you would only use MacOS for about 10% of the time? I love my MacBook because of the Hardware AND the Software.
I would advise you either to give MacOS a try since all the big Software like Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint etc) and Adobe Software work on MacOS.
Or... yes, no Mac Fanboy likes to hear it, but... simply buy a Windows Laptop. For the same amount of money you would spend on a MacBook, you can get some pretty could Windows Laptop.
I say, get a Mac Mini and load Win7 on it, since it'll be docked most of the time. Get that, and an iPod touch, and set up Remote Desktop on the iPod
. I use RDC on my iPhone & Windows 7 rig, and it's very useful when I need to do something quick on my desktop.I just wanted to share that on my little 80 GB h/d in my 13" macbook (late 2006) I installed Windows Vista Business on the 2nd of 2 partitions without bootcamp, parallels, vmware fusion or any other software (?) . I run Leopard 10.5. I simply choose which disk to log into at computer startup (press C key) and its all good! I can only use one OS at a time but thats fine by me.
I dont have any audio from my windows install- everything else is good.
I dont have any audio from my windows install- everything else is good.