Bootcamp questions

1) Yes, it's done pretty much automagically.
2) You hold down Alt when the boot chime is heard. A menu will appear where you can select Windows (or OS X). If you don't hold down Alt, OS X will boot per default.

 

Apple has lots of information on their support site. I'm sure you'll find most of your answers there.

https://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/

 

If your Mac doesn't have an optical drive and the version of Windows you're installing is only available as an ISO, you'll need a USB drive. I think Microsoft only requires a 4GB flash drive, so I'm not sure why Apple requires 16GB.

You can get a 16GB flash drive on Amazon for less than $10. Hell, I can goto the grocery store a few blocks away and buy one. It shouldn't be a big deal.

 

Bootcamp Assistant does two things

1. creates a Windows installer on the flash drive from the Windows ISO, and uses this to install Windows
2. downloads all the drivers and puts them on the flash drive

This is why it needs more capacity than the MS installer, but 16Gb is a bit surprising to me.

The drivers installer is supposed to start automatically on first boot into Windows, but in my experience doesn't always. So you may need to navigate to the msi file on the thumb drive.

 

The flash drive would have the Windows installer .iso, and also would be the destination for the boot camp support downloads.
So - you would boot to that flash drive for installing Windows on the boot camp partition, and then the various driver installs would also be on that flash drive.
If you are asking why it needs to be 16GB - it doesn't need to be 16 GB, but that would be a good size, too.

 

Just FYI: the drivers Apple supplies for the Trackpad are currently less than ideal and you will find the Trackpad less enjoyable to use than when booted to OS X. Also, should the refresh include a dGPU (discrete GPU; that is, one wholly separate from and in addition to the one integrated into the CPU) you'll more than likely find, as we do now, that you'll be unable to switch between them in Windows, and will be stuck with only the dGPU. This will cause the battery to drain far more quickly.

TL;DR: the drivers are supplied, but do not enable the same hardware experience in Windows as in OS X.

 

Depending on the programs, virtualization may be an easier and simpler solution, that does not require constant rebooting. What would you be using windows for?

 

I can't detect any difference between my trackpad in OSX and Windows 10 Bootcamp on my late 2013 rMBP.

 

It may be Apple have improved the drivers for Win10. Certainly, the drivers for Win7 are so poor that Trackpad++ was created to replace them.

 

Don't overlook the Windows, Linux & Others on the Mac subforum.