Using Windows 7 at 2560x1600, absolutely stunning (pictures)

[Hieveryone]

I installed Windows 7 on my 13" MBPr last night through bootcamp.

On the Windows side of things, the native is 2560x1600 and you can zoom to 150%.

Everything is very readable, crisp, and simply stunning. Also, there is NO slowdown at all.

If anyone's thinking about using bootcamp for Windows 7, I can recommend whole heartedly!

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Your screenshot resolution has been resized to 1,699 x 999 pixels, thus one cannot see the glory.

Maybe try another method, maybe A?

How to attach an image to your MR post.​

 

[827538]

I run Windows 7 SP1 x64 at 2880x1800 with 150% scaling... Half the programs I use look like s***.

It's funny because it's mainly Microsofts stuff that totally screws the scaling.

Like Word, MSE, parts of explorer windows, some right click stuff over scales. I don't know why this happens but it looks like its zoomed to 300%. I'll post some pictures. But otherwise it's very usable. Microsoft needs to sort its scaling issues out. Not really acceptable when 4k displays are becoming popular.

 

[7itanium]

im doing this as well but my issue lies with gaming.... retina resolution doesnt scale right on some games and I have to turn resolution way back down

other than that very happy

 

[827538]

im doing this as well but my issue lies with gaming.... retina resolution doesnt scale right on some games and I have to turn resolution way back down

other than that very happy

What do you mean?
All games look fine for me, just so long as I keep the 16:10 aspect ratio. I'm even able to play some at full retina resolution like dead space which looks incredible. So crisp!
But I only really use Windows for gaming anyway so not that big an issue.

 

[Hieveryone]

What do you mean?
All games look fine for me, just so long as I keep the 16:10 aspect ratio. I'm even able to play some at full retina resolution like dead space which looks incredible. So crisp!
But I only really use Windows for gaming anyway so not that big an issue.

What games do y'all play? I'd like to buy some. Right now all I have is CoD 4.

 

[yjchua95]

What games do y'all play? I'd like to buy some. Right now all I have is CoD 4.

I play Battlefield 4 on my 15" rMBP (2.6/16/1TB/750M) at 1680x1050, mix of high and ultra, FXAA and 16xAF, and get around 47-50 fps. Lowest is 35 fps and it easily shoots past 60 fps in quite a number of situations.

Besides that, I also play NFS Rivals on it.

 

[Sym0]

I installed Windows 7 on my 13" MBPr last night through bootcamp.



On the Windows side of things, the native is 2560x1600 and you can zoom to 150%.



Everything is very readable, crisp, and simply stunning. Also, there is NO slowdown at all.



If anyone's thinking about using bootcamp for Windows 7, I can recommend whole heartedly!

Hmmm, pretty sure the world moved on to 8.1 which supports 200% scaling which is what is needed for proper scaling. You ain't seen nothing yet.

 

[827538]

What games do y'all play? I'd like to buy some. Right now all I have is CoD 4.

Same as the above poster I also play BF4. Although that sounds a tad optimistic.
For BF4 I use 1680x1050, FXAA, 16xAF, mainly high settings and I get over 40FPS easily on 64p servers. Although you can play on ultra the fps is just a little too low for it to always be smooth. Just a shame about it being a rubber banding mess, I also have it on PS4. (Playing on a 152Mb/s fibre connection). It has the potential to be great but Dice rushed it and ruined it, I probably will get the next Battlefield but I'll be waiting to see what condition it's in first.
I'm huge into world of tanks - it's free to play and I've been playing it for four years since closed beta. I just love it.
Civilisation 5, mainly with friends. Company of Heroes 2 which is great and I'm looking forward to the expansion.
Still enjoy playing Skyrim.
Sometimes a bit of counterstrike or cod. Occasionally some World in Conflict, Rome 2 total war, anno 2070.
I'll post a pic of my desktop in a bit (on iPhone just now) and show you the scaling mess that is Windows 7. But the normal desktop does look great. Basically Windows for gaming, everything else OS X. And Microsoft can prise Windows 7 from my cold dead hands before I touch that train wreck that is Windows 8.

Next rMBP with Broadwell + Maxell = ultimate gaming laptop.

 

[maflynn]

Hmmm, pretty sure the world moved on to 8.1 which supports 200% scaling which is what is needed for proper scaling. You ain't seen nothing yet.

The world has not moved on to Windows 8.1, windows 7 still commands a 47% command on the market share.

source



OP, I find the tiny resolution so small for my old eyes its not feasible

Great you're enjoying it though

 

[827538]

The world has not moved on to Windows 8.1, windows 7 still commands a 47% command on the market share.

source

View attachment 472171

OP, I find the tiny resolution so small for my old eyes its not feasible

Great you're enjoying it though

Not only that. Last time they updated the OS share on Arstechnica I believe W7 was actually growing! Which isn't difficult to appreciate. W7 does everything I want, what more does W8 really offer me? OK DX11.2, faster boot but aside from that it doesn't appeal to me.

Here's my Windows desktop on my Mac at 2880x1800.

 

[827538]

Here's some issues I have with scaling. Believe me Windows 7 is littered with this. This is just a couple of quick examples of how useless the scaling is.

Microsoft Office 2010 looks awful too. More jumbo writing and fuzzy icons.

Some 3rd party programs also act strangely with scaling. Steam can sometimes be odd.

 

[Hieveryone]

Hmmm, pretty sure the world moved on to 8.1 which supports 200% scaling which is what is needed for proper scaling. You ain't seen nothing yet.

I tried Windows 8.1 on the Microsoft Surface Pro 2 I bought (then returned).

I didn't like it. It's like an iPad (the software). And there's no start menu!

 

[p3ntyne]

I tried Windows 8.1 on the Microsoft Surface Pro 2 I bought (then returned).

I didn't like it. It's like an iPad (the software). And there's no start menu!

You can't be serious.

What about start8 + modern mix?

 

[maflynn]

I tried Windows 8.1 on the Microsoft Surface Pro 2 I bought (then returned).

I didn't like it. It's like an iPad (the software). And there's no start menu!

There's ways around the start menu. FWIW, I l ike Window's office over the Macs, so I'll use that in a VM. A surface tablet would be nice in that situation.

 

[Sym0]

The world has not moved on to Windows 8.1, windows 7 still commands a 47% command on the market share.

source

View attachment 472171

OP, I find the tiny resolution so small for my old eyes its not feasible

Great you're enjoying it though

Hilarious, you didn't read my post at all.

Nothing tiny about 200% scaling. Its twice the size, but because the pixels are twice as small on the retina it ends up (drum roll please) the same size as a normal laptop running 1440x900, just super smooth razor sharp edges. And older windows 7 apps just pixel double.

All exactly the same as OSX does. But you knew that didn't you

 

[anonymous4a]

I installed Windows 7 on my 13" MBPr last night through bootcamp.

On the Windows side of things, the native is 2560x1600 and you can zoom to 150%.

Everything is very readable, crisp, and simply stunning. Also, there is NO slowdown at all.

If anyone's thinking about using bootcamp for Windows 7, I can recommend whole heartedly!

Hi OP, could you tell me what your wallpaper is ? Looks great !

 

[princealyy]

I personally love using windows on boot camp. The only problem is when you rdp to another desktop it cannot scale the resolution so you end up with very small and hard to read text.