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For Boot Camp Users, New Macs Require Windows 8 Or Newer
For anyone using Windows 7 by way of Apple's Boot Camp utility, beware: support for Windows via Boot Camp remains, but for the newest Apple laptops, it's only for Windows 8 for now. From Slashgear:
This applies to the 2015 MacBook Air, and the 13-inch model of the 2015 MacBook Pro. Windows 8 will remain compatible, as will the forthcoming Windows 10. The 2013 Mac Pro also dropped Boot Camp support for Windows 7, while 2014 iMacs are still compatible, along with 2014 MacBook Airs and 2014 MacBook Pros.
For those who still prefer to run Windows 7 on their Macs, there are other options. This change to Boot Camp will not affect using the Microsoft operating system through virtualization software, such as Parallels and VMware Fusion. Also at PC Mag.
In my experience the Surface Pro tablets cost more because the price they list doesn't include the keyboard, which it alone is anywhere from $150 to $200.
Oh, come off it. Install something like Classic Shell and an average user will barely know the difference between 7 and 8. I have confirmed this empirically with dozens of users.
The base $799 model also comes with less SSD space and a slower processor. That may or may not matter for you, but is worth looking at. For me 64GB of space (what the entry-level Surface Pro 3 has) is getting to be tight.
To get a rough spec equivalent to the MacBook Air, which comes with an i5 CPU, 128GB SSD, and a keyboard, you have to spend about $1100 on the Surface Pro 3, which is a bit pricier than the $899 MacBook Air.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
To get a rough spec equivalent to the MacBook Air, which comes with an i5 CPU, 128GB SSD, and a keyboard, you have to spend about $1100 on the Surface Pro 3, which is a bit pricier than the $899 MacBook Air.
Sure, the Surface Pro is more expensive than a Macbook Air of similar performance levels, but that's because you're paying for a larger, higher-resolution (2160px wide vs 1440) touchscreen, with a detachable keyboard..... so you don't have to go buy a separate tablet for commuting or kicking around at home or whatever. You may end up saving money overall.
Microsoft has also said that Surface Pro 3 keyboards are going to be compatible with the upcoming Surface 4, so if you're a chronic upgrader (or your Surface 3 dies an ignoble death) you don't have to pay twice.
Traditionally, "Bootcamp" has been a conglomeration of two separate things:
1) A compatibility module residing in the system firmware (an EFI module) that provided the ability to boot legacy MBR-based operating systems
2) A set of drivers packaged by Apple that was more or less guaranteed to install all required drivers for your system
The CSM (compatibility module) was recently depreciated and removed from the 2013 Mac Pro, and now several of their laptops as well. That is because Windows 8 (or newer) is capable of booting directly from EFI without the compatibility layer in-between (and therefore an MBR partition).
As far as I know, Apple isn't really even providing driver packages anymore since these operating systems generally support the Macintosh hardware OOTB. This had happened before as well, certain systems like the MacPro1,1 were capable of running Windows 7 or newer (even though Apple didn't list support for those)- you just had to go out and find the drivers yourself, which was fairly easy since nothing in that machine was really proprietary.
So really, the story should be that Bootcamp has been removed from these Macintosh systems, because it no longer exists. There's no more CSM for booting legacy operating systems and the drivers mostly work OOTB. The recent versions of Windows are capable of booting directly on the machine WITHOUT "Bootcamp".
I've been virtualising Windows environments for years & you're clearly ignorant. Using bridge mode is child's play on both Parallels & VMWare Fusion.
The only thing that's difficult is disabling the use of network interfaces entirely in the Host OS while still making them available for bridge mode in the VM clients & that's a rare need.
Democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the issue