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Macbook Air Ethernet Dongle Drivers
- Thread starter johnlvx
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driver compatibility macbook air MBA Windows
i need to get an MBA working well enough (on windows) to give to my boss.
im going to have to clean install windows because the primary programs this computer will be running are massive and MUST be on the primary HD (SSD)
what are the major driver compatibility issues?
how do you right-click?
i can only think of a usb mouse
im thinking im gonna go with XP because there's no need for an x64 OS with 2GB of ram
im on my HTPC using a remote to type so dont hate on my spelling punctuation capitalization etc.
btw
thats ridiculous that apple makes you pay $30 or whatever for a 10/100
oh and
i love how someone goes "mac users are so great because they always help each-other... " then someone asks a simple question and the thread dies for almost 2 years
i need to get an MBA working well enough (on windows) to give to my boss.
im going to have to clean install windows because the primary programs this computer will be running are massive and MUST be on the primary HD (SSD)
what are the major driver compatibility issues?
how do you right-click?
i can only think of a usb mouse
im thinking im gonna go with XP because there's no need for an x64 OS with 2GB of ram
im on my HTPC using a remote to type so dont hate on my spelling punctuation capitalization etc.
btw
thats ridiculous that apple makes you pay $30 or whatever for a 10/100
oh and
i love how someone goes "mac users are so great because they always help each-other... " then someone asks a simple question and the thread dies for almost 2 years
A rev C v. 2,1 MBA released in June 2009 hass the USB-Ethernet connector included. The right click isn't a problem. Touch two fingers on the trackpad and click... right click on Windows 7 on the MBA is just that easy. You don't need a mouse (if you wanted a mouse buy a BlueTooth mouse and not a USB mouse as there's only one port and you don't want to carry around a USB connector).
The driver issues I have had on Windows 7 64-bit have been non-existent except, the display stays on full-brightness and the keyboard backlighting is either on full or off.
Even though the Windows 7 64-bit edition isn't officially supported, it runs fine as long as you do the Windows update which installs much better drivers for the Nvidia GPU/graphics. All I did was use the Snow Leopard disk and manually installed the WiFi driver and then updated Windows and allowed it to install all of the other drivers, I think. I might have installed a few but they were overwritten when Windows Update was run.
In all honesty, Windows 7 makes the MBA three times the computer that it is in OS X. I know it's sad but it's true. Microsoft really has their crap together with this OS. It is pleasant to run and it is incredibly stable. In addition, entertainment like video playback and Flash on the MBA are incredible within Windows. It really shows me how screwed up Apple is to not let Adobe optimize Flash for OS X or even iPhone OS. I can run an HD video or Flash video at a 70% drop in CPU usage in Windows vs. OS X.
So there is no fear in using the MBA with Windows 7. And if you use the 32-bit edition of Windows 7 it should be easier to install with BootCamp and run like a charm. Good luck.
Scottsdale wrote:
"In all honesty, Windows 7 makes the MBA three times the computer that it is in OS X. I know it's sad but it's true. Microsoft really has their crap together with this OS. It is pleasant to run and it is incredibly stable. In addition, entertainment like video playback and Flash on the MBA are incredible within Windows."
This is an off-topic question, but just wondering....
How large (or small) a partition is needed to _comfortably_ install Windows7 (along with a few small-ish apps)? What can I "get away" with, without taking too much "away from" the Mac partition?
Drive in question will be a 128g SSD...
Thanks,
- John
"In all honesty, Windows 7 makes the MBA three times the computer that it is in OS X. I know it's sad but it's true. Microsoft really has their crap together with this OS. It is pleasant to run and it is incredibly stable. In addition, entertainment like video playback and Flash on the MBA are incredible within Windows."
This is an off-topic question, but just wondering....
How large (or small) a partition is needed to _comfortably_ install Windows7 (along with a few small-ish apps)? What can I "get away" with, without taking too much "away from" the Mac partition?
Drive in question will be a 128g SSD...
Thanks,
- John
I wouldn't go any less than 15 GB. I did 28 GB for Windows 7. I use about 65 GB in OS X, and that is by moving all media files and about half of old work files onto a drive connected to AEBS. With Windows 7, I think my OS installation was around 8 GB, but I could be wrong. I installed Office 07 Enterprise, Project, CS 3, and a few other business apps and am using about half of my Windows drive.