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Boot Camp: Apple's refreshed MacBook Pro and Air models Windows 7 only

Summary: According to an Apple support note released Friday, the new MacBook Pro models and the recently refreshed MacBook Air won't support Windows XP and Windows Vista.

David Morgenstern

By for The Apple Core |

According to an Apple support note released Friday, the new MacBook Pro models and the recently refreshed MacBook Air won't support Windows XP and Windows Vista.

Note: Windows XP and Vista drivers are not supplied for these computers and are not supported.

The site says Book Camp will support 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional, or Windows 7 Ultimate. If you''re running Window XP or Vista on an older Mac and are moving up to one the new notebooks, then you will have to put a Windows upgrade into your budget.

Window 7 running on Boot Camp requires:

-An optical drive (MacBook Air computers require an external optical disc drive to install Windows 7). -A blank CD or USB storage device to contain the Windows Drivers created by the Boot Camp Assistant. -For 32-bit versions of Windows, at least 16 GB of free space. -For 64-bit versions of Windows, at least 20 GB of free space. -Boot Camp Assistant, which is pre-installed in /Applications/Utilities/ -An authentic, 32-bit or 64-bit Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate disc.

Topics: Apple, Hardware, Microsoft, Operating Systems, Software, Windows

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35 comments
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  • done over

    Easy to say, but with all updates, MAC is still trying to keep up with free PC software and new programs from the internet. Ma said watch the spoon! more...
    Walker007
    Reply Vote

    • Actually...

      @Walker007 I'd say with the fact that Mac hardware has been enjoying integrated dual-band wireless N hardware, Bluetooth, and now Thunderbolt (Light Peak) technology, the PC makers have been playing catch-up to Apple for a while. Oh, and there's the whole OS thing as well, but I won't go into why Linux, Mac OS, and BSD are better than Windows in the overall picture...
      nix_hed
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Boot Camp: Apple's refreshed MacBook Pro and Air models Windows 7 only

        @nix_hed It is a long discussion, but why would you run WIndows thru MAC ?<br><strong><a href="http://www.ofertareonline.ro/termopane-Bucuresti.html">Termopan Bucuresti</a></strong>
        termopane
        Reply Vote

  • Good news for Microsoft. No?

    This is probably the best news Microsoft has had in a long time. Is this also going to be a requirement with Parallels or Fusion?
    bmovie2
    Reply Vote

    • Doubtfull...

      @bmovie2 More likely, that Apple aren't wasting development resources on products which are no longer supported (XP) or not really used (Vista).

      The same is true for some Windows hardware appearing in the channel, there are no longer XP drivers for some kit.
      wright_is
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Boot Camp: Apple's refreshed MacBook Pro and Air models Windows 7 only

      @bmovie2

      No of course.
      Parallels and Fusion use virtualization. That means that you can install Windows all the way to Win 9X if you wish or you can install Linux for that matter.
      patbot
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Boot Camp: Apple's refreshed MacBook Pro and Air models Windows 7 only

        @patbot But remember that there will always be a back door for installing unsupported stuff on Mac hardware...
        nix_hed
        Reply Vote

    • RE: Boot Camp: Apple's refreshed MacBook Pro and Air models Windows 7 only

      @bmovie2

      As a Fusion user, this won't affect me, should I move up to this new hardware platform...
      snideb
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Boot Camp: Apple's refreshed MacBook Pro and Air models Windows 7 only

    I wonder what percentage of Mac owners actually run a copy of Windows on their Macs. I imagine it's probably higher in the enterprise.
    empirestatebuddy
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Boot Camp: Apple's refreshed MacBook Pro and Air models Windows 7 only

      @empirestatebuddy
      I sell a vertical small business app running SQL Server. I'd guess that about 25% of my customers run Win7 on MAC, mostly the owners own laptop. The proles get white box PCs.
      mswift@...
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Boot Camp: Apple's refreshed MacBook Pro and Air models Windows 7 only

      @empirestatebuddy

      Actually, I run Windows XP on my MacBook though my major OS is Snow Leopard. It is for old Windows software that doesn't exist for Mac and which will probably not run on Windows Vista or Windows 7. It does, however, run on Windows 3.x and on XP it has some problems with the long file names ...
      perronne
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Boot Camp: Apple's refreshed MacBook Pro and Air models Windows 7 only

    I wonder whether the Office programs run on a Mac are immune to PC viruses.
    MacSeleka
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Boot Camp: Apple's refreshed MacBook Pro and Air models Windows 7 only

      @MacSeleka

      If you mean running the native Office apps for OSX (latest version 2011), then ... sorta.

      Office 2008 dropped VBA support, so anyone running that version can't be affected by a macro virus. They also can't write macros that utilize VBA.

      VBA returned in Office 2011, so if a macro virus is contained in a document and opened on the Mac, then the Mac will execute it.

      Now depending on the extent of what happens depends on the virus itself. I've never looked at any macro viruses in detail to find out how they do some of the OS level misbehavior they do, but I would imagine that anything that extends outside of Office would be more limited on the Mac.

      The virus would be able to propagate itself into your templates and thus any document you create/open. If the macro virus tries to access a Windows API in order to do "something", then that operation would fail on the mac (seeing as how it doesn't have any Windows API's).

      Of course, Mac's can become "carriers" of macro viruses. As I stated before, the viruses will be able to propagate across templates and any newly created/opened documents, which means if those documents are then opened on a Windows version of Office, then that machine will become infected too. In this case, any Windows specific code will be able to execute and do whatever it was designed to do.

      Of course, in theory the macro viruses can also contain Mac specific code (to execute applescript perhaps? again I'm not sure of VBA's capabilities). In this case someone could write a truly "cross platform" virus.
      tk_77
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Boot Camp: Apple's refreshed MacBook Pro and Air models Windows 7 only

        @tk_77

        Well, VBA viruses do have some problems on a Mac. Just the little difference between Window's use of backslash (\) where MacOS X uses the standard UNIX slash (/) in paths gives problems to the vira ...
        perronne
        Reply Vote

  • RE: Boot Camp: Apple's refreshed MacBook Pro and Air models Windows 7 only

    Good news for Microsoft. Simply put, it's time to move on from XP. Those in that camp need to get a grasp on reality. Money, or no money, time or no time, the world is moving on, and those that can't - or won't - upgrade are going to be quickly forgotten, and pushed aside, so that the rest of us can move on and push forward.<br><br>I WISH THE MOST PAINFUL OF DEATHS TO XP!<br><br><br>Vista on the other hand is still good, why cut support for that?
    The one and only, Cylon Centurion
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Boot Camp: Apple's refreshed MacBook Pro and Air models Windows 7 only

      @Cylon Centurion 0005
      because they have to make the drivers... they care very little about Windows an don't want to spend the time to get drivers working for Vista. I'd do the same thing... Win7 is much better than any previous version of Windows... its all I'd ever recommend anyone to use if they need Windows.
      doh123
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Boot Camp: Apple's refreshed MacBook Pro and Air models Windows 7 only

        @doh123 I don't see why Vista was axed since it provides the foundational core for Windows 7. In other words, overwhelming majority of drivers that work with Vista work with Windows 7 and vice versa.
        statuskwo5
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Boot Camp: Apple's refreshed MacBook Pro and Air models Windows 7 only

        @statuskwo5

        That was exactly my thinking, if it works on Vista, it will hands down work on 7. Interesting though. Eitherway, I agree with @doh123, Windows 7 is enough OS for anyone who needs Windows on their Mac.
        The one and only, Cylon Centurion
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Boot Camp: Apple's refreshed MacBook Pro and Air models Windows 7 only

        @statuskwo5<br><br>It's entirely possible that Vista will run on the new machines, it just isn't supported. If the driver software for all the hardware of the machine is designed to run on both Vista and Windows 7, then Vista should be installable.<br><br>Because Apple provides the ability to install Windows on the machine and driver software for it, to some extent they have to support it. Its much easier for Apple to support a single OS then even two. It also allows them to only test Windows 7 moving forward and not worry about having to test everything with Vista as well. That doesn't mean Vista won't work, however.
        tk_77
        Reply Vote

    • RE: Boot Camp: Apple's refreshed MacBook Pro and Air models Windows 7 only

      @Cylon Centurion 0005 XP seems best suited for virtual machines because of its small footprint. However, I agree, XP users should start planning to migrate to a newer OS (and system for that matter). They still have a few years, but come on, 13 years is really a long time to support an OS.
      statuskwo5
      Reply Vote
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