I was able to get Windows 7 running on my 1st gen MBA, with everything working except the wireless (but have found driver that I will test soon). Battery life is as good if not better than OS X, boot times are quicker than OS X and the MBA doesn't appear to get anywhere near as hot as it does in OS X when idling. CPU usage is 0-1% on idle but soon whacks up when screen grab is used, youttube CPU requirements are very low (which is to be expected) also even though this is pre beta the OS feels incredibly smooth, I have attached some screen shots below. I also installed on my iMac and the only things to report there are that sound and wireless require 3rd party drivers (as with MBA) and it refuses to play Blu-Rays or HD-DVDs no matter which powerdvd you use, (the blu-ray/hd-dvd drive is a sata device connected y a sata to usb adapter...) it simply says 'cannot recognise the format' even though windows know its a blu-ray and i can go and explore files on the disk. anyway here are photos and I will also try and make a video at some point:
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Windows 7 running on Macbook Air
- Thread starter nathans89
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Good stuff! I am sure Win7 is going to be a great operating system that will iron out all rough edges of vista and add a lot of good stuff on top.
It´s always good to have options available. I am looking forward to the public beta soon.
It´s always good to have options available. I am looking forward to the public beta soon.
that looks quite interesting, always nice to see the competition improving... so that apple have to get better as well.
Please could you explain what the see through start bar and the larger icons on it are all about, thanks,
dan.
Please could you explain what the see through start bar and the larger icons on it are all about, thanks,
dan.
thats the new start bar, which is kind of an amalgamation of the osx dock the quick start menu and the vista bar... its actually very nice to use... the large icons are user settable like vista... essentially its vista but optimized... vista was fine anyway but 7 is much much faster...
thanks for the reply, it is good to hear that it is a lot faster than vista, when i switched to mac that was the thing that really amazed me, i was used to waiting for things to load after i had clicked them, then on the mac with the exception of garageband most things are ready to use within the first two or three seconds (well the things that i regularly use at least)
Yeah, Windows 7 is more like Windows Vista RE-CODED. Don't know why they name it Windows 7 instead of Windows whatsoever and not to forget that Windows Vista is Windows Ver. 6. Its only code optimization and a few upgrades here and there, the theme does not even change so why Windows 7 (while its just actually Windows Ver 6.something)
Anyway I like some of the features found in Win7, really new and lets hope that this time the OS will continue to stay fast and snappy? Always hated that Windows machine start to "age" after a couple of years of use.
Now lets see how much SL has improved over Leopard
Anyway I like some of the features found in Win7, really new and lets hope that this time the OS will continue to stay fast and snappy? Always hated that Windows machine start to "age" after a couple of years of use.
Now lets see how much SL has improved over Leopard
Oooh, that looks fancy. Can't wait to see the differences between Vista and Windows 7, performace wise
@chip0214
you have to use 3rd party drivers, go to realtek and get the 885 drivers I think, or any realtek HD audio driver should work, the download is vista_R208.exe this is the ftp link; ftp://202.65.194.212/pc/audio/Vista_R208.exe
so far I have found that if you need anything just get the stuff that's designed for vista... it seems to work very well.
hope that helps!
you have to use 3rd party drivers, go to realtek and get the 885 drivers I think, or any realtek HD audio driver should work, the download is vista_R208.exe this is the ftp link; ftp://202.65.194.212/pc/audio/Vista_R208.exe
so far I have found that if you need anything just get the stuff that's designed for vista... it seems to work very well.
hope that helps!
Windows 7
Windows 8
Windows 9
Windows X (10.0 - Poodle)
Windows X (10.1 - Cocker Spaniel)
Windows X (10.2 - Greyhound)
Windows X (10.3 - Saint Bernard)
Windows X (10.4 - Labrador Retriever)
Windows X (10.5 - Dalmatian)
Windows X (10.6 - Snow Dalmatian)
Windows 8
Windows 9
Windows X (10.0 - Poodle)
Windows X (10.1 - Cocker Spaniel)
Windows X (10.2 - Greyhound)
Windows X (10.3 - Saint Bernard)
Windows X (10.4 - Labrador Retriever)
Windows X (10.5 - Dalmatian)
Windows X (10.6 - Snow Dalmatian)
To be honest, press reviews of Windows 7 have been remarkable encouraging. It looks like Windows 7 gets back on track with the progress that Win2k and WinXP made. It's still a Microsoft OS in mentality, but it seems to work remarkably well for such an early build, and it seems to be far less resource hungry (for instance, it already runs on netbooks far better than Vista does).
Windows 7 is going to be amazing. I am pretty sure it is going be Windows Vista with much faster speeds. I will definitely upgrade to Windows 7 from Vista if it seems good enough.
In a weird way as much as I hate Windows I want them to improve. I think competition is a good thing. I think it will push Apple to make some advance's in OS X.
Windows 7 does look very promising, and it's expected to be shipping on new machines by November of next year, most likely RTM (released to manufactures) a few months sooner.
Blasphemy!!!!
Seriously, Windows 7 or the faster, stronger and younger child of Vista will be like Snow Leopard. Taking the existing version of the OS and rebuilding it into something better.
Gentlemen, we can rebuild Vista. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world's second best OS. Windows 7 will be that OS. Better than it was before. Better, stronger, faster.
Enjoy!
Of course, Snow Leopard will be better. GPU acceleration is part of it. A real Dock and of course, Chess.
Seriously, Windows 7 or the faster, stronger and younger child of Vista will be like Snow Leopard. Taking the existing version of the OS and rebuilding it into something better.
Gentlemen, we can rebuild Vista. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world's second best OS. Windows 7 will be that OS. Better than it was before. Better, stronger, faster.
Enjoy!
Of course, Snow Leopard will be better. GPU acceleration is part of it. A real Dock and of course, Chess.
I think it looks promising but as long as it doesn't end up as Vista did. I'm holding on my Vista purchase until Windows 7 comes out. Same goes for my new Mac notebook purchase until Snow Leopard is out.