Pre-unibody macbook pro, will it run Windows 8.1?

[Aahzmandeus]

Hey, I have a macbook pro, pre unibody version, Intel C2D, 4 gigs of ram.

It's running Windows 7 on a separate partition.

Recently I got a free copy of Windows 8.1. Enterprise through the Dreamspark program.

Will it run fine on the mbp? For example, on Windows 7, I have no fan control, and have to adjust fans manually through a little program called macfan.

How is the general experience with W8 and pre unibody macbook pro hardware support? Am I safe to upgrade?

 

[Macman45]

According to MS, Windows 8 is SUPPOSED to be less hardware hungry, so in theory I'd say yes. But we tried 8 on a test partition on our MP 5.1 Hex with 32GB of RAM, and it didn't run well at all...most of that was driver issues though.

If it runs 7, then it should run 8.

 

[Aahzmandeus]

According to MS, Windows 8 is SUPPOSED to be less hardware hungry, so in theory I'd say yes. But we tried 8 on a test partition on our MP 5.1 Hex with 32GB of RAM, and it didn't run well at all...most of that was driver issues though.

If it runs 7, then it should run 8.

Thank you for this insight. So I am safe to assume that the driver support will be at least as good as on Windows 7? Not to say that it's good on Windows 7, but I just want the basics working (wlan, yada yada).

EDIT: Concerning hardware. W7 is actually very snappy here. I can even manage light gaming (Diablo 3, League of legends, War thunder on minimal setting) at very acceptable rates.

 

[Macman45]

Thank you for this insight. So I am safe to assume that the driver support will be at least as good as on Windows 7? Not to say that it's good on Windows 7, but I just want the basics working (wlan, yada yada).

Actually, no...that was my point when we tried it on our Mac Pro...poor driver support. That was a while back though, and if you don't mind doing stuff over you can always try.

We had issues with GPU drivers ( just a 5770) that crashed causing BSOD's and a couple of other things that really should have worked...It was a while back though, so more driver support should have been added by now.

 

[Aahzmandeus]

Actually, no...that was my point when we tried it on our Mac Pro...poor driver support. That was a while back though, and if you don't mind doing stuff over you can always try.

We had issues with GPU drivers ( just a 5770) that crashed causing BSOD's and a couple of other things that really should have worked...It was a while back though, so more driver support should have been added by now.

Okay, well I'll probably just hold off for now. Looks like more headache than benefit fro mit.

 

[Macman45]

Okay, well I'll probably just hold off for now. Looks like more headache than benefit fro mit.

That's what we did in the end....The Windows partition is only for games, so we went back to 7.

 

[mikes70mustang]

how much video do you have? I have 256 on my C2D mbp and 4gb ram. Everything seems to run slow in my opinion.