Apple: ‘We Will Support Windows 7 in Snow Leopard’

Apple has made a rather shady announcement today using the Support section of its web site, confirming that Snow Leopard and Boot Camp will be supporting Microsoft’s just-released Windows 7 later this year. Apple informs customers that a software update will need to be applied, so that Boot Camp will be able to run Windows 7 just like it does older versions of Microsoft’s OS.

Posted on October 22, 2009 (today), Support article HT3920 informs customers (or visitors of the Mac maker’s web site) that “Apple will support Microsoft Windows 7 (Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate) with Boot Camp in Mac OS X Snow Leopard before the end of the year.” According to the company headquartered in Cupertino, California, “this support will require a software update to Boot Camp.”

The document in question continues to reveal that owners of a Macintosh computer that will be able to support Microsoft’s Windows 7 will also require their own authentic copy of Microsoft Windows 7 or Microsoft Windows 7 upgrade, as well as an Intel processor.

Sure enough, there are some Macintosh computers that will not support Microsoft’s new Windows version. Apple makes sure that no owner of the systems listed below buys the expensive Windows 7 thinking they’ll be able to run it in a virtual machine on their Mac.

“Note: The following models will not be supported for use with Windows 7 using Boot Camp,” Apple warns (emphasis ours).

- iMac (17-inch, Early 2006)
- iMac (17-inch, Late 2006)
- iMac (20-inch, Early 2006)
- iMac (20-inch, Late 2006)
- MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2006)
- MacBook Pro (17-inch, Late 2006)
- MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2006)
- MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2006)
- Mac Pro (Mid 2006, Intel Xeon Dual-core 2.66GHz or 3GHz)

Softpedia, for its part, will keep an eye on Apple’s progress and will immediately issue a news release notifying Mac users of the availability of the software update enabling support for Windows 7 in Boot Camp. Additionally, users of VMware Fusion and Parallels Desktop will also be informed of the latest updates providing compatibility with Windows 7.