Windows 7 on a Macbook Pro

Hey,

Im thinking of installing Windows 7 on my Macbook Pro and I have some questions to those who have already bitten the bullet. Btw, I'm talking about Build 7077 and later. Basically the RC.

How does the touchpad work? Any of the features intergrated?

How does one switch between the two graphics cards?

Is it faster than Vista?

Does the eject button work?

Do the top line (i.e. keyboard illumanating/sound/brightness) work?

Thanks,

J

 

this is really a hard question
i won a mac but i didn't try to install windows 7 on it
those answers will also be useful for me

 

Yeah, I want windows but don't see a point in installing Vista with 7 practically here.

 

I installed the 32-bit version and was getting BSOD pretty frequently due to the trackpad.

it would give me a appletmp.sys error (something like that)

after 2 months i just gave up and installed XP.. now it runs perfect.. trackpad a little quirky.. and the latest trackpad firmware was causing it to BSOD. but the bootcamp driver out of the box wasnt.

maybe i shouldnt have upgraded the driver for win7... But windows 7 ran pretty well on my MBP...

however i get 30% performance improvement in games on XP

 

I don't know about Win7

but in Vista... you can only use the 9600, the 9400 is unusable.

the touchpad works with two finger scrolling and right click works with 3 fingers (not 2 for some reason)

sound volume and keyboard and screen brightness works... but.. there is a slight bug I've found. If i have keyboard light on when i start Vista, or it comes on... with no auto control, and try to turn it down to so it turns off (like in OSX) it doesn't work. I can make the keyboard super dim, but the lights don't turn off with manual control.

 

The trackpad is a bit sketchy, and it jumps around a bit. It's nothing that can't be used, but it's not like the native trackpad in OS X. The only features that are integrated are right click, which requires 3 fingers.

As doh123 already mentioned, the GeForce 9400M is not usable in Windows, as only the Geforce 9600M GT is usable.

The eject button works, with the Boot Camp drivers installed like normal.

Sure thing, they all work with the Boot Camp drivers installed, just like the eject button.

Hope that helps!

 

Thanks a lot- that does help I think I will wait for the RC to install.

 

I'm pretty sure when windows 7 comes out you will have to re-install again.

 

umm, i have a 13'' macbook and vista works perfectly with the 9400, even with aero on and playing games although I don't recommend aero since it's a huge power eater and makes your laptop slightly hotter :S

I had XP in bootcamp before and i prefer Vista 100 times, it runs more estable and manages battery far better than XP.

 

We meant no one knows a way to swap between the two grfx cards in the Pro; not that the 9400 in other computers which use it as its primary card don't work

 

I did not mean it didn't run good.. but that you cannot use it at all.. its not functioning.. only the 9600 is active.. the 9400 is not enabled, and no one has found a way to enable it.... I'm sure if we could use the 9400, it would run great.

 

So far for me with the Bootcamp 2.1 x64 drivers installed everything is working great no BSOD's using windows 7. The latest build of windows 7 is 7106, from what I have heard there is no change from 7077 build.

I also did the install of the bootcamp drivers of only the ones Windows did not install automatically. Windows 7 should install most drivers besides the touch screen and track pad. There is also an updated track pad driver on the Apple downloads sections.

 

Thanks for the info What time does your copy expire? I'm guessing whn it does, you have to re-install and lose all your stuff?

 

All these beta copies expire 02/03/2010. I believe that the upgrade path will still be availible after the Final RTM but please don't quote me on that. I do know that the RC build has now been released to Technet and MSDN subscribers so I woudl imagine it will be leaked to torrents soon.

Enjoy.

 

Torrents? But isn't that illegal

 

Actually it expires August 2009.

 

I read that it's on the 1st of july 2009.

 

The later builds expire later. I think.

 

the latest builds expire in June or July of 2010

 

ok!!Guess i should have read it!! thanks!!