Official Support for Windows 7?

[xomphos]

I recently ordered a copy of Windows 7 Professional Full Retail (for around $30 before tax and shipping through a Microsoft phone order as a student ) and it should get here tomorrow. My Mac that I use is a mid-2009 13" 2.26GHz MacBook Pro that I upgraded to Snow Leopard.

Now, my question is should I wait to install Windows 7 with Boot Camp? I heard that Apple currently doesn't officially support Windows 7 on Boot Camp, but will by the end of the year. If this is the case, is the "official" support involve a complete update of the Boot Camp program or just the drivers? The reason I am asking this, is the way I got about installing operating systems is by method of complete clean installs that way everything is functioning correctly and I can perform clean, initial backups to restore from. If the update is to the Boot Camp program as a whole, I don't want to go ahead and install Windows 7, as I can see myself just re-installing it when the "official support" comes out.

So should I install it or wait based on the support from Apple?

Thanks in advance!

 

[robanga]

I installed it fine on a MacBook 13 Unibody using Bootcamp 3.0 (32 Bit Windows 7) but ran into issues installing it on a late model Mac Mini. I probably could have got around the latter, but chose instead to install it on a virtual machine there instead. When the new bootcamp comes out I will install it on a partition.

 

[balamw]

Boot Camp has three components.

1. The EFI firmware that allows you to boot anything other than Mac OS, and select it by holding option during boot.
2. The Boot Camp Assistant which resides in OS X, and leads you through the process of repartitioning your drive and rebooting to install Windows.
3. The drivers

Only the drivers need to be updated for W7, so it is unlikely that they will update the firmware or the Boot Camp Assistant significantly if at all.

They probably will add the retail W7 discs to the list of supported media to boot from in BCA, but that is largely irrelevant. Since you can boot from them manually today.

B

 

[numbersyx]

I've installed Windows 7 on my Mac Pro using the SL disc drivers - no problems whatsoever....

 

[Fuchal]

Working fine on my MBP 13" using SL's drivers.

 

[xomphos]

Great, thanks a lot for the replies. Looks like I will go ahead and install when I get it in the mail.

Without starting a new thread, I got just a couple more questions related to Windows 7 on a Mac:

Can Time Machine back up the Windows partition automatically too? Doesn't it just copy over all of the primary HDDs (and other selected devices) content?

Also, are there drivers for the Magic Mouse on Windows yet? I don't have one, but I do have the older mouse. This is more of a curiosity, as I bought the older mouse around three months before the Magic Mouse came out.

And one last thing in speaking of mice: I plan to use my current Mighty Mouse in Windows...is it at least half-decent for gaming? I am installing Windows 7 primarily for gaming, but the gaming I plan to do is mostly casual gaming and LAN play with friends. If not, is there a good (and preferably cheap) blutooth mouse I could get relatively soon (retail)? I'd prefer not to get one though, because I am OCD on the aesthetics of my hardware (I am an Apple user ) as when my MacBook Pro is connected to my 24" Asus monitor, I have it resting on an mStand with an Apple blutooth keyboard and Mighty Mouse connected to it.

Again, thanks for the replies so far! Any help on the above questions would also be appreciated!

 

[gotzero]

Bootcamping 7 Pro onto an MBP was not problem for me. I did cancel the SL drivers once on the graphics update, but restarting it made everything go fine.

I cannot find a problem with the install other than the every-windows bootcamp scrolling wackness.

 

[Stridder44]

Great, thanks a lot for the replies. Looks like I will go ahead and install when I get it in the mail.

Without starting a new thread, I got just a couple more questions related to Windows 7 on a Mac:

Can Time Machine back up the Windows partition automatically too? Doesn't it just copy over all of the primary HDDs (and other selected devices) content?

Also, are there drivers for the Magic Mouse on Windows yet? I don't have one, but I do have the older mouse. This is more of a curiosity, as I bought the older mouse around three months before the Magic Mouse came out.

And one last thing in speaking of mice: I plan to use my current Mighty Mouse in Windows...is it at least half-decent for gaming? I am installing Windows 7 primarily for gaming, but the gaming I plan to do is mostly casual gaming and LAN play with friends. If not, is there a good (and preferably cheap) blutooth mouse I could get relatively soon (retail)? I'd prefer not to get one though, because I am OCD on the aesthetics of my hardware (I am an Apple user ) as when my MacBook Pro is connected to my 24" Asus monitor, I have it resting on an mStand with an Apple blutooth keyboard and Mighty Mouse connected to it.

Again, thanks for the replies so far! Any help on the above questions would also be appreciated!

I don't believe Magic Mouse has official drivers yet, but Apple did say they'd release a set of drivers specifically for Windows 7 by no later than the end of this year, so I imagine drivers will be included with that.

I also don't believe Time Machine backup is supported in Windows either.

 

[xomphos]

I don't believe Magic Mouse has official drivers yet, but Apple did say they'd release a set of drivers specifically for Windows 7 by no later than the end of this year, so I imagine drivers will be included with that.

I also don't believe Time Machine backup is supported in Windows either.

Thanks, but what I mean by Time Machine support is can I back up the Windows 7 partition in OS X? I have a Segate FreeAgent 1TB 3.5" external HDD I use for Time Machine backups and I only connect it to do a backup every now and then, so the use of a consistent schedule from within Windows 7 is not a necessity for me, especially since I plan to continue to use OS X as my main OS for school, web browsing, media, etc.

 

[donga]

I recently ordered a copy of Windows 7 Professional Full Retail (for around $30 before tax and shipping through a Microsoft phone order as a student ) and it should get here tomorrow.

did you just call that number recently? i tried to order a few weeks ago and they said they stopped taking phone sales orders

 

[Jason Beck]

Useful posts. I intend to install 7 as soon as I have a spare 30$ to send for the student copy. I'd like to see it running on my Macbook Pro just for giggles.

 

[xomphos]

did you just call that number recently? i tried to order a few weeks ago and they said they stopped taking phone sales orders

Yep. I saw that same post and a reply on it saying that they someone tried and they were not doing phone orders anymore. I decided to try just to see if I could get through and it worked the first time! Got my copy (Full Retail, Sealed) of Windows 7 Professional sitting on my desk right now.

 

[donga]

so i just ordered my copy today via the MS number (1-877-696-7786). free shipping, so it was only $30 plus tax. great deal!

 

[melman911]

What are SL drivers?

 

[roadbloc]

What are SL drivers?

Snow Leopard Drivers.