Here we are sitting in the PC Magazine Labs, and it occurs to us: We’ve got a shiny new Macbook Pro and an early build of Windows 7 on disc, so why not attempt to use one to run the other? Check out photos, video, and a run down of the process, after the jump. Using Bootcamp, we did a clean install of the new OS over Vista, which was already running on the system. We couldn’t just upgrade because the Macbook wasn’t running SP1. It should be noted, of course, that this build (6801) still looks an awful lot like Vista. Far from being a final version of the operating system, Build 6801 is simply built on top of Vista. All in all, the installation process went fairly smoothly.
The computer restarted itself a few times (unfortunately, we had the system configured to start up to OS X, so we had to manually switch back to finish the process). After installation, we installed the drivers via the Apple OS X startup disc, hoping that Windows 7 might have an easier time communicating with the hardware. The disc didn’t do much, sadly. The system was unable to get online, and various other Windows 7 features, such as the mouseover preview, were disabled. Windows 7 still retained some of its key functionality, however: The new Paint and Wordpad were intact. We could “toss” windows to the top of the screen. The translucent glass windows were there, as well.
We were hoping that we might be able to take advantage of some of that touchscreen functionality via the MacBook’s new multi-touch trackpad, but that too, sadly, wasn’t working the way we’d hoped.
Aug 15, 2012 - This is why if you or your company happen to use Macs, it is a good idea to install Windows 7 on them. This way you can get the best of both.