Does Anyone Here Run Win 7 (Bootcamp) A Lot?

[itzcoolz]

so i'm a potential switcher, and i'm still going back and forth between a top of the line Thinkpad T410 and MBP 15. A big reason i'm heavily considering the MBP is that I'm interested in using Mac OS, if for nothing better than it being different and new. I'm a long-time Windows guy, and i'm actually pretty impressed with Windows 7, but I have admired Mac OS from a distance.

A recent line of thinking has been: i might as well get the MBP because it can run both Windows 7 and Mac OS, whereas the Thinkpad T410 can only run Windows 7. Since i've never really used Mac OS, my fear is that in a month, i'll miss Windows 7 (unlikely, but still a possibility...). In the event that I used MBP as primarily a Windows machine, I've heard that it runs hot and the power management support is poor at the moment. Thankfully, i plan on leaving the MBP plugged in as a desktop about 90% of the time.

So several questions:
1) Do any of you run Windows 7 through bootcamp for a significant amount of time on your Macbook Pro's?
2) Apart from poor battery management, how is Windows 7?
3) Just for reference, is there eventually going to be improved power management support and driver updates? (From what i googled, it seems like they missed their 2009 deadline, but I can't seem to find any word that they intend to eventually release updated drivers)

 

[MACMBP]

I run Windows 7 on boot camp frequently and I have no serious issues with it, the big one being that obviously the MBP's keyboard is different from a PC's. It does get hot (at least on Windows 7 profesional)., and the trackpad works well, much better than my HP Mini's with multi-touch.

If you get the Macbook Pro I recommend you get VMWare Fusion, as you can run the Windows 7 partition as a virtual machine within OS X.

 

[alust2013]

I would suggest the MBP. I run win7 ultimate on my machine quite often (for gaming and a proper version of office), and it works great. I really like windows 7 actually, even though I have been rather displeased with vista and some annoyances I have had with xp. I still like OS X better, but 7 really is a nice OS. Don't bother with the ultimate version of it, I only have it because I got a promo copy and that is what it happened to be. Home premium should do you well, or professional if you feel the need. As far as updates go, I don't expect anything significant with improvements to battery life. There may be some minor tweaks, but because it can't be optimized to a particular set of hardware, it will naturally be less efficient. OS X is optimized for a much much smaller range of machines, so it is quite a bit more efficient.

If you are in the market for a new computer, and you are interesting in trying Mac, definitely go for the MBP, it's a great machine.

 

[grahamcracker]

One of my buddys only uses windows 7 on his mac, never heard him complain or seen anything go crazy the last year or so

 

[mjfrozenchips]

i use windows 7 alot for gaming and proper side of office just like what he said. never had a problem. Definitely worth my money. wen im tired gaming, i just switch on osx anytime i want just for fun iono i lovr macs now. once you go mac, u can never go back

 

[mikeo007]

I run windows 7 on my new 13" almost exclusively. I occasionally boot into OSX to browse media (pictures, music, etc) since it's all on my mac partition, but the majority of the time I'm in Windows. If you're like me, your going to find OSX to be very elegant, but clunky. Decent for consumption, but not so great for productivity.

Battery life in Windows 7 isn't great, but if you're running things like skype or watching youtube, I find the battery life very similar. OSX seems to be heavily optimized for low processor usage tasks, but everything else gives mostly equivalent battery life. I also personally find the trackpad to be a pain to use in windows. The sticky drag and drop is annoying, and scrolling just doesn't feel as good as it does in OSX. Gaming with the touchpad in Windows is also brutal due to the lack of any buttons.

Everything else is great though. It may take a few tweaks to get things the way you like them, but overall the windows experience is about as good as it is on any other equivalent laptop.

 

[jonbravo77]

Run Win7 all the time on my '07 15" MBP. I agree with others that it does get pretty hot and I also see a lot of resource hogging i.e.: memory is immediately using at least 30% and quickly rises within a few hours. CPU usage also is not the best but I have the older Core 2 Intel chip. But other than that it's not to bad. Seems stable.

 

[tkingart]

I highly recommend the MBP, you do get the best of both worlds. I have to boot into windows 7 everyday because of work in 3dmax, and I have zero problems. I also boot into Win7 for games. If you get the MBP, come back here in exactly 2 weeks, and let us know what you think. I'm convinced most people that spend at least that time in OS X, don't want to boot into Windows unless they have to.

 

[djasterix]

I run windows 7 via Fusion 3 and works great, never had a problem

 

[gatepc]

I run it all the time for gaming and it works just fine with me after fighting with nvidia drivers. ( the ones that come with the apple disc don't work good )

 

[sl1200mk2]

I'm more or less in the same boat as you. I'm a heavy Windows users (manage large Windows server infrastructure) and use Mac for everything else. I love the Mac platform! OS X is a great OS to use, learn and just something different.

That said, I run Win 7 on my 15" MBP quite a bit. Other than the issues you've mentioned it's totally solid. I don't run any games or anything 3D or too intensive (HD videos are about it) for long periods though. I stay plugged in most of the time. I use VMware Fusion as well when I need something and don't want to reboot into Boot Camp.

I don't regret my purchase at all and plan to pick up an iMac or MP in the next year or so.