Apple Embraces Windows 7 with Boot Camp

It took Apple approximately three months since the general availability of Windows 7 (October 22nd, 2009) and almost half a year since the operating system from Microsoft was released to manufacturing, to offer support for the latest Windows client with Boot Camp. And even so, the Cupertino-based hardware company has only missed the initially announced deadline for releasing Boot Camp support for Windows 7 by three weeks.  But finally, users that want to install the latest iteration of the Windows client on Mac computers will be able to do so without the hassles that plagued such scenarios ahead of Apple’s latest Boot Camp update.

Depending on the CPU of the machine they are running, as well as on the flavor of Windows 7, Mac users can integrate either Boot Camp 3.1 Update 64 bit or Boot Camp 3.1 Update 32 bit. Both are offered free of charge by Apple.

The update adds “support for Microsoft Windows 7 (Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate), addresses issues with the Apple trackpad, turns off the red digital audio port LED on laptop computers when it is not being used, and supports the Apple wireless keyboard and Apple Magic mouse. This update is highly recommended for all Boot Camp 3.0 users,” Apple notes in the description of the Boot Camp refresh.

However, in addition to the Boot Camp 3.1 update, Apple customers will also need to be running Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard on their machines if they want to deploy Windows 7. Moreover, Apple also released the Boot Camp Utility for Windows 7 Upgrade and compatibility drivers for the successor of Windows Vista, which users should also consider integrating.

“Apple's Boot Camp software, included with Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard and v10.6 Snow Leopard, lets you install and run Microsoft Windows and Windows-based applications on your Intel-based Mac,” Apple reveals.

Download Boot Camp Utility for Windows 7 Upgrade
Download Graphics Firmware Update 1.0 (iMac and Mac Pro) compatibility with Windows 7
Download iMac Late 2009 Windows 7 Drivers
Download Boot Camp Software Update 3.1 for Windows 32-bit
Download Boot Camp Software Update 3.1 for Windows 64-bit