Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Windows 7 OEM on MacBook Pro

SevengerNC

SevengerNC

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 19, 2012
151
14
Winston Salem, NC
Had my MacBook Pro for 2 months, and I'm sorry, but I really miss some Windows features. Always thought running Win on a Mac defeats the whole purpose of trying something new, but I now realize I'm not going to be happy until I have some Win features. I've already discussed some of these features in an earlier post so now I'll move onto the logistics.

From what I've read, there is no inexpensive way to achieve Win on a Mac. I figure I'll have to purchase a full Win version for about $200, and I'd like to use Parallels which is another $70. I found some sites with instant downloads of Win 7 OEM Builder Versions for around $80 to $90, but quite frankly, I don't know that I trust them. One was Software King & the other Software Savings, and there are some negative reviews on both of them. Is there an inexpensive way to achieve this? How bout the Win 8 Beta version instead of 7?

Am I going down the right path? Any simple, cheaper way to do this?

Thx
 
Are you a student or has the company you work at access to cheaper Windows offerings?
I don't know of those two sites you mentioned, but the price seems to good to be true and they probably sent you a torrented Windows version (you could do it yourself and not get scammed).
Have you checked eBay for used Windows 7 and Parallels Desktop offers?
Have you considered Boot Camp or Virtual Box?

Booting Windows on the Mac
 
Maybe if you shared which Windows features you can't live without, someone could help you find a viable alternative.

I've only had my MBP for about 6 months and I'm powering up my Windows laptop less and less as time progresses. In fact I haven't turned it on in over a week now.
 
If you don't trust a download, just buy a physical Windows 7 OEM disk from a trusted retailer like Amazon or Newegg. The OEM licenses are fine, and is in line with what Microsoft charges retailers for an OEM copy. Just make sure you buy the 64 bit version.

Here's a 64 bit Home Premium sold directly from Amazon for $90: http://www.amazon.com/Windows-Premi...PT3I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345055195&sr=8-1

Or wait for Windows 8 which is rumored to be much cheaper (like $40). I would NOT get the Windows 8 beta at this point, since there's no official upgrade path to Windows 8 retail and it'll stop getting updates and eventually expire.

VirtualBox is also a good free alternative to Parallels.
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
lpeedin said:
Maybe if you shared which Windows features you can't live without, someone could help you find a viable alternative.

I've only had my MBP for about 6 months and I'm powering up my Windows laptop less and less as time progresses. In fact I haven't turned it on in over a week now.
Click to expand...

The most of it has probably been covered here already.
And when I switched, I got a 1 GHz iBook with 768 MB RAM, but still had a 2 GHz Windows PC with 1.5 GB RAM, which got used less and less within three months and I eventually sold it, even though I used CPU intensive applications back then too (editing and compositing software, and no, not iMovie), and while the iBook was having a slower CPU, I got my work done faster due to Mac OS X. But then again, everyone is different and has a different kind of thinking (for instance, I always put the task bar on top in Windows - too much travel between it and menus).
 
Newegg is running a deal today through Friday for Windows 7 HP SP1 64 bit and Parallels 7 for $110 w/ free shipping if you can find the code online.

Check slickdeals... I know its on there.
 
utyankee said:
Newegg is running a deal today through Friday for Windows 7 HP SP1 64 bit and Parallels 7 for $110 w/ free shipping if you can find the code online.

Check slickdeals... I know its on there.
Click to expand...

Not heard of slick deals - are they legit? Can't find the $110 deal yet.
 
Slickdeals.com is just a website where people post deals they found around the web. They are legit. All the deals might not be good, but I received the email myself from Newegg this morning.
 
I've found that once I registered with Newegg, I began receiving a lot of useful discount info. More than once I have taken advantage of their deals.

They are reliable, great with exchanges if you have an issue.

Also, they are very quick to credit your account. I've never had my money returned so quickly.

Plus it was only one mistake out of nine orders I've place over about five months.
 
Just an FYI - you can just purchase the upgrade version and install it, even if you don't have Windows already. The only trick is that you have to do a clean install without using the product key, and then reinstall over the OS using the upgrade key. Microsoft has publicly acknowledged this as a legitimate installation method (they'd rather you do that and pay for the copy than torrent/pirate it), and several PC-oriented magazines have published that as a legitimate installation method as well. The OEM builds often ship with minimal driver support when compared to retail versions. While that is not as big a deal with the Boot Camp package, it can cause some issues when installing the OS in custom-built PCs.
 
dmccloud said:
Just an FYI - you can just purchase the upgrade version and install it, even if you don't have Windows already. The only trick is that you have to do a clean install without using the product key, and then reinstall over the OS using the upgrade key. Microsoft has publicly acknowledged this as a legitimate installation method (they'd rather you do that and pay for the copy than torrent/pirate it), and several PC-oriented magazines have published that as a legitimate installation method as well. The OEM builds often ship with minimal driver support when compared to retail versions. While that is not as big a deal with the Boot Camp package, it can cause some issues when installing the OS in custom-built PCs.
Click to expand...

Do you know if this will carry over for Windows 8 as well?
 
SevengerNC said:
Had my MacBook Pro for 2 months, and I'm sorry, but I really miss some Windows features. Always thought running Win on a Mac defeats the whole purpose of trying something new, but I now realize I'm not going to be happy until I have some Win features. I've already discussed some of these features in an earlier post so now I'll move onto the logistics.

From what I've read, there is no inexpensive way to achieve Win on a Mac. I figure I'll have to purchase a full Win version for about $200, and I'd like to use Parallels which is another $70. I found some sites with instant downloads of Win 7 OEM Builder Versions for around $80 to $90, but quite frankly, I don't know that I trust them. One was Software King & the other Software Savings, and there are some negative reviews on both of them. Is there an inexpensive way to achieve this? How bout the Win 8 Beta version instead of 7?

Am I going down the right path? Any simple, cheaper way to do this?

Thx
Click to expand...

I always install windows on my Mac. It doesn't defeat the purpose in any way! The main reason I even use Mac is because it has the ability to also run windows better than any windows made PC I've used! You can't run Mac on a Windows PC (not officially) so Mac is the clear winner for scalability.
 
dmccloud said:
Just an FYI - you can just purchase the upgrade version and install it, even if you don't have Windows already. The only trick is that you have to do a clean install without using the product key, and then reinstall over the OS using the upgrade key. Microsoft has publicly acknowledged this as a legitimate installation method (they'd rather you do that and pay for the copy than torrent/pirate it), and several PC-oriented magazines have published that as a legitimate installation method as well. The OEM builds often ship with minimal driver support when compared to retail versions. While that is not as big a deal with the Boot Camp package, it can cause some issues when installing the OS in custom-built PCs.
Click to expand...

how much cheaper is the upgrade version compared to the full version?
is there any cheap way to just get a software license number, like directly from MS, since the actual dvd is useless for machines like the RMBP.
 
utyankee said:
Email sent with code.
Click to expand...
- -

Thanks a bunch for the code. Unfortunately, the code is tied to a specific email address so I can't use it.

----------
dmccloud said:
Just an FYI - you can just purchase the upgrade version and install it, even if you don't have Windows already. The only trick is that you have to do a clean install without using the product key, and then reinstall over the OS using the upgrade key. Microsoft has publicly acknowledged this as a legitimate installation method (they'd rather you do that and pay for the copy than torrent/pirate it), and several PC-oriented magazines have published that as a legitimate installation method as well. The OEM builds often ship with minimal driver support when compared to retail versions. While that is not as big a deal with the Boot Camp package, it can cause some issues when installing the OS in custom-built PCs.
Click to expand...
- -

Interesting. Would you mind explaining this again about buying just the upgrade version. Heck, I've got a $60 card for Best Buy to use so I could buy the lower priced Win 7 upgrade. Tell me again about the clean install & then reinstall please - - what does all that mean ? Thx
 
DaveNinja said:
how much cheaper is the upgrade version compared to the full version?
is there any cheap way to just get a software license number, like directly from MS, since the actual dvd is useless for machines like the RMBP.
Click to expand...

SevengerNC said:
- -

Interesting. Would you mind explaining this again about buying just the upgrade version. Heck, I've got a $60 card for Best Buy to use so I could buy the lower priced Win 7 upgrade. Tell me again about the clean install & then reinstall please - - what does all that mean ? Thx
Click to expand...

In my case, I picked up the Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade for $119.99 at BBY (full version is $199.99). Literally all you do is install the OS (you have to select a clean install since there's no Windows OS on the drive/partition), then skip the part where you enter the product key after installation has completed. Once you're on the Windows desktop, you reinsert the disc (has to be upgraded from within the OS), select upgrade instead of clean install, then proceed as normal.
 
dmccloud said:
In my case, I picked up the Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade for $119.99 at BBY (full version is $199.99). Literally all you do is install the OS (you have to select a clean install since there's no Windows OS on the drive/partition), then skip the part where you enter the product key after installation has completed. Once you're on the Windows desktop, you reinsert the disc (has to be upgraded from within the OS), select upgrade instead of clean install, then proceed as normal.
Click to expand...

Alrighty, I got it to work. Had some problems trying to load Win 7 saying couldn't recognize disk. I finally deleted Parallels and Win and started over. Everything worked. But I never reinstalled Win again while in Win environment. Do I really need to do it?
Thx
 
SevengerNC said:
Alrighty, I got it to work. Had some problems trying to load Win 7 saying couldn't recognize disk. I finally deleted Parallels and Win and started over. Everything worked. But I never reinstalled Win again while in Win environment. Do I really need to do it?
Thx
Click to expand...

In order to use the upgrade key to activate your copy of Windows, yes. One thing Microsoft did was actually make the upgrade and full versions of Windows 7 the same. That's the main reason this trick works. If you just do the clean install, then you'd need a full key to activate it.
 
dmccloud said:
In order to use the upgrade key to activate your copy of Windows, yes. One thing Microsoft did was actually make the upgrade and full versions of Windows 7 the same. That's the main reason this trick works. If you just do the clean install, then you'd need a full key to activate it.
Click to expand...

I have the option to click Start Programs and click Windows Activate. Why can't I just do that? I'm hesitant to reinstall due to the probs I had the first time, but if I must, I must.

Thx

----------

And, I will say that I'm happier now than ever that I purchased the Mac and really glad I sprung for the i7 750 gig model.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back