Windows 7 on 2011 MBP

[GusBricker]

Gday all,

I'm doing some research on a new notebook for me to use at work. Currently i have a HP Envy 15 running Windows 7.

I was thinking of upgrading to the 2011 2.2GHz MBP 15". However it is vital that i have stable Windows 7 performance. I am a electronic engineer, and alot of the programs we use to design products with aren't OSX compatible.

So i thought, thats fine ill use bootcamp. However ive been reading quiet a few bad things about 2011 series MBP's running Win 7. Regarding the fan being noisy and heat issues? Are these serious issues or can they be fixed easily, ie through third party software?

Are they're any other compatibility issues i haven't caught?

Thanks in advance!

 

[ayeying]

I personally believe the "heat" issues are overrated. Many of the people complaining about "heat" don't know the fact that 60-80 deg C is NOT over heating and is normal for a notebook computer.

Anything over 100 deg C is an issue. Even 99 deg C is okay. The most intensive CPU or GPU software I run, most of the times, is folding@home under OSX and games under Windows 7 Professional. My CPU is on average running mid 90s deg C. Under gaming, my system actually stays cooler at a mid 80s for CPU and high 80s for GPU. However, this is on the Mid-2010 Model, but it should similarly apply to the newer ones as well.

I run Windows 7 along with OSX Snow Leopard & Lion on a triple boot system. All runs very well, no problems with compatibility or crashes or whatnot. My main programs under Windows is VS2010, Motorcycle & Car ECU Apps (Hondata & PowerCommander) and games. With the exception of games, I can run the other 2 virtually without any problems.

I also have Parallels and VMware Fusion linked with my bootcamp partition so I can use whichever software I wish to access the partition.

I back up the partition bi-weekly via WinClone and store it along with my Time Machine external drive. Therefore, if I have any hard drive failures, I still have a backup.

 

[GusBricker]

It seems like the heat issues are only this yr's macbooks though? Whats the likely hood that apple will release an update to address the issues?

Also does windows support all the hardware in the MBP? In otherwords if you go into device manager, is there any devices listed that have the exclamation mark next to them. I'd imagine that the thunderbolt port isnt supported yet?

 

[AFPoster]

The heat issues on the '11 MBP's are overrated as ayeying has mentioned. The newer ones stay around 30 - 40c and when under heavy load come to mid 80's (from my research in the forums). This isn't really overheating people just want to know it's lower to feel better, really it's fine at what it's at. Win 7 has issues but remember this forum isn't even a third of the voice of Mac users so you're only getting some peoples views and not all the successful views at that. I am buying the same model as you today, and my friend has it with Win 7 Ultimate and has no issues, also the OS X disc has support for Win 7 side, no worries there. I believe it's just graphics cards that are in need for the tweaking. Not a biggy there.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

I don't know about the new MBP's, but on older MBP's, they would get exceptionally hot under Windows, even at idle CPU usage.

 

[GusBricker]

So by the sounds of it, i should be right with it. It will basically be exactly like my current HP Envy machine when running Windows 7.

Does windows 7 support the thunderbolt port?