Advice Needed on Running Windows 7 64 bit on Macbook Pro 13

[ahbitheman]

I have always been a PC user but have had experience with Mac's for some time now. My PC laptop is still functional and I have windows 7 32 running on it but its battery life is just horrible. Barely 1:30 hr off a full charge at min brightness. One of the biggest selling points to me for the new Macbook Pro 13 inch is the 7hr battery life which I desperately need. I plan on using the OSX as well as installing Windows 7 Pro 64 bit on it. I need some advice as to doing so and how well it works. I also have a lot of cracked software that I use on my pc. Would it still work on a mac with win 7 on it? Anyone already installed win7 pro 64 bit on their macbook pro?

[asmielia]

Yup. I'm running it. I had to get a newer bootloader otherwise the bootup time with Win 7 was over a minute (and I put an SSD in my MBP).

Otherwise it works pretty well. The battery life isn't as good as in OSX, but I haven't actually timed it.

The trackpad is missing 3 and 4 finger gestures but that's pretty minor. I haven't run it extensively but when I have it's worked fine.

I split my HDD in half for the Win 7 partition (really easy to do btw), but that was probably overkill. 32gb is probably a good size for the Win 7 partition.

[ahbitheman]

Do you think a MacBook expert at an apple store can help me install it? I use a lot of pc programs and will likely still use win7 as the main OS. how much worse is battery life? 20% decrease?

[sleepyz]

Yup. I'm running it. I had to get a newer bootloader otherwise the bootup time with Win 7 was over a minute (and I put an SSD in my MBP).

Otherwise it works pretty well. The battery life isn't as good as in OSX, but I haven't actually timed it.

The trackpad is missing 3 and 4 finger gestures but that's pretty minor. I haven't run it extensively but when I have it's worked fine.

I split my HDD in half for the Win 7 partition (really easy to do btw), but that was probably overkill. 32gb is probably a good size for the Win 7 partition.

Where do you get the new bootloader for Win 7? The slow boot time on my macbook pro is killing me.

[loybond]

Have you installed all the Apple drivers? That may improve battery life... also check your power settings in the control panel.

That 7 hour battery life is only in OS X, while doing very little. Realistically, if you're doing anything other than surfing non-flash webpages, you won't be able to get 7 hours. And that definitely won't happen in Windows. If this is a dealbreaker for you, the used market for Macs is really good, sell it and move to a Windows laptop. There are many of them that have far better battery life than the Macs.

As for how well Windows works, it runs natively, so, as well as on a PC laptop pretty much. Cracked software will work on any Windows installation; it's not smart enough to be self-aware! You could even create a virtual machine in VMware and run your cracked software there.

That leads me to my suggestion... have you considered running Win7 or WinXP in VMware or Parallels? It's a good option if you're not using anything too hardware-intensive. A lite version of WinXP is best.

I have Win7 x64 on my MBP 15" though I rarely use it. Main reason is the crappiness of the touchpad control.

I have always been a PC user but have had experience with Mac's for some time now. My PC laptop is still functional and I have windows 7 32 running on it but its battery life is just horrible. Barely 1:30 hr off a full charge at min brightness. One of the biggest selling points to me for the new Macbook Pro 13 inch is the 7hr battery life which I desperately need. I plan on using the OSX as well as installing Windows 7 Pro 64 bit on it. I need some advice as to doing so and how well it works. I also have a lot of cracked software that I use on my pc. Would it still work on a mac with win 7 on it? Anyone already installed win7 pro 64 bit on their macbook pro?

[ahbitheman]

I havent been able to find many PCs with actual battery lives longer than 7 hours. And the ones that do have poor processors and video cards. Please correct me if I'm wrong but I cant think of any other laptop with similar specs and great battery life than a macbook pro. My thinking is buying a macbook pro for hardware. I need windows for many programs only PC compatible. Wish they were cheaper though..ugh

Have you installed all the Apple drivers? That may improve battery life... also check your power settings in the control panel.

That 7 hour battery life is only in OS X, while doing very little. Realistically, if you're doing anything other than surfing non-flash webpages, you won't be able to get 7 hours. And that definitely won't happen in Windows. If this is a dealbreaker for you, the used market for Macs is really good, sell it and move to a Windows laptop. There are many of them that have far better battery life than the Macs.

As for how well Windows works, it runs natively, so, as well as on a PC laptop pretty much. Cracked software will work on any Windows installation; it's not smart enough to be self-aware! You could even create a virtual machine in VMware and run your cracked software there.

That leads me to my suggestion... have you considered running Win7 or WinXP in VMware or Parallels? It's a good option if you're not using anything too hardware-intensive. A lite version of WinXP is best.

I have Win7 x64 on my MBP 15" though I rarely use it. Main reason is the crappiness of the touchpad control.

[hugh_da_man]

I bootcamped Win7 32bit on my older mac mini without issue. The only person I know who used bootcamp on a MBP complains about battery life so I imagine you'll have issues because it's probably bad drivers. I think Apple has plans to better support Win7 in the future so you might have to wait until they release a bootcamp/driver update before everything works the way you want.

Hopefully Apple speeds up the drivers for your MBP because right now it seems like buying Apple laptops to run Win7 is a bad idea.

EDIT: and by battery life I think he said he goes from 5 hrs in OSX to like 2 hrs in Win7 but I think it's a YMMV situation because I don't know if he actually tested it to fully dying in both OSX and Win7, I bet he's just going by the battery time left estimate.

[devils-haven]

battery life in windows 7 is comparable to other 6cell led screen laptops with intel cpu, 4 hours should be no problem, have it running on my macbook pro 13"

[ahbitheman]

any recommendations on a led laptop pc that can actually run 4 hours with a processor close to 2.5 ghz?? Cuz I haven't found any.

battery life in windows 7 is comparable to other 6cell led screen laptops with intel cpu, 4 hours should be no problem, have it running on my macbook pro 13"

[gflux]

You got many options here:
-find programs that have an OSX equivalent
-run Windows programs using Crossover Pro/Games while in OSX
-run Windows virtualized (using Virtualbox, VMWare Fusion or Parallels) while in OSX
-use Boot Camp to dual boot into W7

I find it more convenient to just go with virtualization rather than Boot Camp - Windows 7 takes so long to boot up.

[pitz]

any recommendations on a led laptop pc that can actually run 4 hours with a processor close to 2.5 ghz?? Cuz I haven't found any.

My Dell Latitude D630 with 2.2GHz easily does 5 hours on the 9-cell battery.

I'm sure the Latitude E6400 with LED, and 9-cell would do just as well.

[ahbitheman]

I really want a 13.3 inch screen and I have been looking at dells again. I was interested in the Latitude E4300. Customizing it to similar specs to a Macbook Pro 13 inch on Dell.ca and I'm getting $2,000 plus! How can that be right. I always thought apples were more expensive but comparing it to a dell Latitude, the macbook pro 13 inch is much cheaper as I can buy that for 1499 pre-tax. I am a PC person at heart but I want some sweet hardware for a fair price. Any other recommendations?

Even the dell xps studio comes to near 2 grand with the specs i want and warranty. And Ive been reading bad reviews of that

My Dell Latitude D630 with 2.2GHz easily does 5 hours on the 9-cell battery.

I'm sure the Latitude E6400 with LED, and 9-cell would do just as well.

[pitz]

I really want a 13.3 inch screen and I have been looking at dells again. I was interested in the Latitude E4300. Customizing it to similar specs to a Macbook Pro 13 inch on Dell.ca and I'm getting $2,000 plus! How can that be right. I always thought apples were more expensive but comparing it to a dell Latitude, the macbook pro 13 inch is much cheaper as I can buy that for 1499 pre-tax. I am a PC person at heart but I want some sweet hardware for a fair price. Any other recommendations?

Dell.ca website is a huge ripoff. I've had good luck buying new Dell laptops with warranty off of eBay, or alternatively, call up Dell, and ask for a large discount.

The Latitude D830 that I have here listed here at $3200 on the Dell website, I managed to acquire mine for $1600. So if you shop around, lots of ways of getting the price down.

[ahbitheman]

I think I may wait for some new core i7 laptops to be released next year although I'm not sure if any will actually come out in 13 inch models. What do u guys think?

[loybond]

I think I may wait for some new core i7 laptops to be released next year although I'm not sure if any will actually come out in 13 inch models. What do u guys think?

It's doubtful that i7s will be found in 13" models. Most users looking for the best desktop power are usually in the market for large "desktop replacement" laptops. Plus, while the i7 mobile is more efficient than the desktop, it is still a power hog.

To answer your earlier question, there are some Lenovos and others that have super long battery life (9 hours). But you will almost never find a solution that meets every one of your requirements. They look ugly, may not have the components that you desire etc. The 15" MBP is a great overall compromise IMO.

As for expense, I've bought all my Macs on craigslist, BNIB. Apple's warranties are by serial number, so there's no harm in going this way... you can save hundreds.