Best Windows 7 Version for MacBook Pro

[mbrellisford]

Just bought a 2.53ghz 4g RAM MacBook Pro, just wondering what version of Windows 7 will give me the best performance (through boot camp). I might get the Ultimate edition but should I install the 32/64/86 edition? I'll be using it to run Windows program (obviously) and the occasional L4D2 or TF2 through Steam. I'd like to hear some of user experiences with various versions.

Sorry if there are a bunch of topics on this already =)

Thanks for ANY help!

 

[DeLoMan]

FWIW, I'm running the 64 bit version of Windows 7 Home Premium in Bootcamp with no problems whatsoever. My only complaint is the poor battery life (1.5 hours if I'm lucky) and the heat generated on my 2.53 GHZ late '08 MBP with 4 gigs of RAM.

I hope that helps.

 

[stylinexpat]

I could see how you would get heat. I just run a youtube video and this thing can start cooking some food (have same Macbook Pro as you do but running with a Vertex SSD).

 

[flopticalcube]

My kids run Steam games on their iMacs with W7-64bit with no problems.

 

[pknoot]

I run the 64-bit Professional version in a 64GB partition under Boot Camp with just the abovementioned battery life and heat issues. Mainly using Office 2007 and it runs fine.

 

[DeLoMan]

I should also note a few things that really helped tweak W7 running on my late '08 MBP. It is important to update the drivers as the bootcamp versions are pretty outdated.

For my sound drivers I downloaded the realtek drivers from their site:
http://www.realtek.com.tw/DOWNLOADS...=3&GetDown=false#High Definition Audio Codecs

You want to download the high definition audio codec for Vista/Windows 7 (supports both 32 and 64 bit systems). The version I downloaded was R2.36 and this eliminated the sputtering audio I would have while scrolling through webpages and listening to iTunes with the normal bootcamp audio drivers.

For my graphics drivers, I went to the NVIDIA site and downloaded the GeForce 9M Series (Notebook) drivers for Windows 7 64 bit.
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

Hopefully that helps you out until Apple releases a new bootcamp specialized for Windows 7. Hopefully this next update will improve battery life and heat.