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For Boot Camp Users, New Macs Require Windows 8 Or Newer

Posted by timothy on from the you-can't-quite-you're-fired dept.

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.

8 of 209 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Running only Windows on a Mac by ganjadude · · Score: 3, Insightful

    a surface pro is the better solution over the macbook air if one must stick with the microsoft camp IMO. light weight, compatible with everything, and in the same price range as the air. Add in the fact that it can be a tablet or a laptop and i think it wins hands down in a comparo between those 2 devices

    --
    have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
  2. Not just Apple laptops, No drivers for new laptops by CraigCruden · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This story will apply to not just Apple laptops, but quite a few new laptops going forward. For hardware (including drivers for all the devices built into the motherboard) it makes economic sense to build and test new drivers that are Windows 7 compatible since there is a large pool of people using Windows 7 on desktops that may buy the hardware as an upgrade. For laptop specific hardware for new laptops there is no upgrade market and all new laptops must be sold with Windows 8.1+. It does not make sense to build and test Windows 7 drivers for these devices since there is no real market to speak of. Be it new Apple laptops or other manufactures laptops, new hardware for laptops just will not have the drivers. Just testing a new driver costs millions of dollars. Apple has dropped Windows 7 support in bootcamp for new hardware. It does not make sense for Apple to invest millions of dollars to write and test drivers for hardware that has no hardware support for Windows 7.

  3. Who cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Who cares? People who spent too much for a shitty unupgradeable computer will have to deal with a different shitty overpriced OS. Oh no.

    If you want to run Windows 7, you're better off getting cheaper, better, more open hardware than Apple's shit anyway. Why am I supposed to care?

    1. Re:Who cares? by GrahamCox · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You cared enough to type four sentences on your tedious rant.

      I thought these arguments disappeared in the early noughties, but clearly there are those that want to wallow in nostalgia. While I've always lived in the Apple/Mac world, I've never been one to indulge in this, even when it was slightly fashionable, which it most certainly isn't these days. However, I've had reason to engage with numerous Windows computers this week for the first time in ages, over a range of versions from XP to 8, and I have to say that in every case it was a reminder that even now, fifteen years on from when those arguments raged, it still sucks. My assumption has been for the last, ooh, eight years-ish, that basically there was no argument, the differences were just quirks and it was whatever you're used to, and for the price you pay extra to be on the Mac side of things, it wasn't worth it. Maybe that's true for a lot of people, but the frustration, general bad temper inducing, sheer passive-aggressive baulkiness of the damn thing made me very glad I don't have to deal with it regularly. And that whatever I pay extra, if I do (meh, my company pays for my hardware, so I don't give a shit how much it costs, personally), is worth every single penny.

      Point is, a lot of people like Windows for some reason, and lots of other people like Apple stuff, for some reason. Maybe there will never be much understanding either way, but the silly finger-pointing name-calling from one camp to the other is childish, tribal and idiotic. No matter how sincerely the sentiment is meant.

  4. enterprise use is still 7 and most drivers are 7/8 by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    enterprise use is still 7 and most drivers are 7/8 at least from amd / ati / nvidia / intel.

    So is apple going out of there way to lock out 7 or just is to lazy to add the 7 drivers as well?

  5. Re:enterprise use is still 7 and most drivers are by Pope+Hagbard · · Score: 3, Insightful

    When has Apple ever cared sweet fuck-all about enterprise?

  6. Re:Hilarious by rubycodez · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Many of us require a full-featured real operating system rather than Microsoft's badly designed program loader. But our jobs require us to run Windows software sometimes. So I run Windows in a vm, no reason to that crippled crapware to monopolize my hardware

  7. Re:Hilarious by ToasterMonkey · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I love how Mac and Linux users are constantly trying to figure out ways to make their computers run Windows applications, if not Windows itself.

    Why not just run Windows, period?

    If you could flip a switch and turn your commuter car into a truck to haul a couch home, why WOULDN'T you?

    Take your Us vs. Them ONE OS stuff back to the 90's please. We have computers coming out our butts now, and more platforms, more competition, is welcome.