Should I download specific drivers in Windows 7 64 bit, or stick to the Apple ones?

[busybusybee]

Hi all,

Apologies if there are other specific threads like this, I did do an MRoogle search but couldn't find one.

I've just got a new 15" 2.66ghz i7 MacBook Pro, and have Windows 7 64 bit ready to install. My question is, once I have it installed, with all the Snow Leopard drivers and 3.1 update, should I continue to download drivers from the manufacturers's websites, or just stick to the ones that Apple hands out in their updates?

I suppose I'm specifically asking about the NVIDIA drivers. Should I install the most recent drivers for the 330m, or again just stick to the Apple ones?

Thanks for your help!

 

[aki]

The apple videocard drivers are generally out of date, and often way way way out of date. It can't hurt of course to run old drivers but if performance is an issue then yes, updating is worthwhile.

You do that the same way you would for a regular PC ie go to the nvidia website and choose your card and OS, download and install.

Sometimes you're unlucky and the nvidia drivers won't install on your mac hardware. This is because the nivida drivers are locked to specific hardware and macs often use "special" versions of the standard video cards (like the "8800GS" in my imac).

If this happens to you, you can manually mess with the .inf file (I believe it's called) to remove the check/add your hardware; or you can use something like the laptopvideo2go website to download pre-messed-with drivers. I did this myself for a while until the official nvidia drivers suddenly started working a few months ago.

Good luck!

 

[busybusybee]

eugghh. I hate that they might not be compatible, because then you have to roll back drivers.

What's the latest stable nvidia forceware that people have running on their 330m?

 

[askywalker]

I have a new 15" top of the line MBP - am I also needing the m330 drivers?

I have some choppiness playing back MKV 1080p videos when in Windows. Mac is fine, and the choppiness is less if I disable hardware acceleration in VLC - so I am hoping a new Windows driver will help.