Installing Windows 7 - Replacing Mac

It appears I have grown tired of Mac and don't ask why because it's complicated. The thing is: How do I ONLY just ONLY have Windows on my Mac computer. Meaning I only turn my computer and it runs Windows 7? Meaning I disable Mac OS X from my computer and only have one operating system (windows) while stilling having my Macbook Pro? I know it sounds stupid me purchasing a Mac to only have Windows on it, just don't ask.
Will I have any problems if I install Windows 7 deleting OS X?

Pop your Windows 7 disc in, run through the setup, and when prompted, erase the entire drive. Then, let the setup finish. That's all there is to it.

In my opinion though, you'd be better advised to sell the Mac (they hold their resale value very well) and buy a dedicated Windows machine. This way you won't have to deal with the Mac-specific functionality of the hardware (the keyboard, trackpad and lack of a hard disk activity light, as well as limited ports) and might be able to recoup a few bucks as well.

In my opinion though, you'd be better advised to sell the Mac (they hold their resale value very well) and buy a dedicated Windows machine. This way you won't have to deal with the Mac-specific functionality of the hardware (the keyboard, trackpad and lack of a hard disk activity light, as well as limited ports) and might be able to recoup a few bucks as well.

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But what about installing the drivers from the Mac OS X disc as if it were a Bootcamp partition. Would that work?

But what about installing the drivers from the Mac OS X disc as if it were a Bootcamp partition. Would that work?

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Yep. When Windows is done installing, just pop that OS X disc in and let it run the driver/support software install.

cwa107 said:

Yep. When Windows is done installing, just pop that OS X disc in and let it run the driver/support software install.

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But is Windows 7 supported because some people have told me it's not. And that you have to download some new Boot Camp driver update so you can authenticate the keyboard, microphone, camera, bluetooth, etc. Thing is I've used the disc, but you need to update it for it to be compatible with Windows 7.

its not supported but I have run 7 for a while, it simply uses the vista drivers. I got everything working on my macbook fairly easily though. Only thing you'll hate is the bad bad bad battery life when running other OS's on mac hardware.

They are working on official drivers and support for 7, its jsut a matter of time. It was meant to be out late last year. They revised that to "when its ready".

Yep, same here. Win7 works fine for me with the Boot Camp 3.0 drivers (included with the Snow Leopard disc).

The only other downside with this is the fact the SATA controller for the hard disk goes into Legacy mode which is far slower than the AHCI mode used in Mac OS X.

You can enable AHCI but it's a little bit of a pain to do, search 'AHCI mac pro' in google and have a read through the first hit. It is aimed at the Mac Pro but I'm sure the principle will be the same on the MBP...

I ran only Win 7 RC x64 on my Mac Pro for about 4 months and it was perfect. It did take a little longer to boot (delay at the grey screen) but once running it was sweet.

Props for keeping the Macbook too, you get the best of both worlds, superior build quality and a OS which you obviously prefer!

I won't ask why you want to do this, although I am curious...

Why not use Bootcamp to install Win 7 and set preferences to boot Win 7 by default? That way if you decide to look at the MacOS again you can simply choose to start it at boot time?

I have had no problems running Win 7 on my Macbook Pro, btw.

I agree with the last post. Use boot camp to install Win 7, in a large partition and keep OSX in a small partition. That will substantially enhance/maintain the resale value and you'll only lose a few GB in storage. Anyone you sell it to later will likely want OSX on the machine. Won't get in the way of running windows at all. If you don't want that, then you may as well get another machine to be honest.

Installing only Windows on the machine will have no affect to the resale value, you would just reinstall OS X when you sell the machine.

cwa107 said:

Yep, same here. Win7 works fine for me with the Boot Camp 3.0 drivers (included with the Snow Leopard disc).

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Yes, but I don't have Snow Leopard yet. Any place I can download all the 3.0 drivers?

SensualLettuce said:

Yes, but I don't have Snow Leopard yet. Any place I can download all the 3.0 drivers?

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Not legally. Boot Camp is packaged with the OS version. I'm not sure if Apple is planning on updating the drivers for older Boot Camp versions.

The latest downloadable update to Boot Camp is 2.2 and was issued by Apple last November 2009. As far as I know, that's the latest update which can be legally downloaded. As far as any future updates are concerned, it's my understanding that Apple will be publishing an update which supports Windows 7. As for the time frame for that update, it's up in the air, as it was supposed to have been released last December 2009.

Regards.

I finally understand. Thanks to everybody!!!