I work primarily in Windows on a 2008 unibody Macbook Pro using Boot Camp. I have been using 32-bit Vista for the past year but I decided this week that I would upgrade to Windows 7. The first reason was that I wanted to switch to 64-bit Windows so I could use all of the RAM in my computer and the driver ecosystem seems to be more stable and robust than it was for Vista early on, also I was looking for some stability improvements and finally I had heard a rumor that Windows 7 got better battery life than Vista when running in boot camp… I will refer to this as “The Unicorn”. Battery life in Vista was deplorable, approximately one hour in power saver mode if the humidity was just so and there was a generally positive vibe in the room, same computer in OS X will get around 5 hours with out breaking a sweat.
The install process could have been a little more painless. Windows installed just fine with the expected driver issues that were present in Vista with Boot Camp. I am running the Boot Camp that came with Snow Leopard and the main issue I found is that the Boot Camp Assistant installer doesn’t really handle 64-bit operating systems very well and you have to manually run the 64-bit installer. Not a huge deal just took some tracking down. Then I had a brief moment of panic when I couldn’t eject a dvd, but that has also been resolved with a boot into OS X and the problem hasn’t returned.
As far as Windows 7 goes, I like it. My “can’t go back” feature is the window management keyboard shortcuts (win + arrow keys, win + shift + arrow keys). I haven’t gotten to the developing point (will on Monday though) but it I can readily see the value in not having to use a mouse to move a Window to a different monitor. Aero Peak will also be incredibly handy. Another feature that I like is that sticky notes are a full blown app in Windows 7. I may have been the only person that I know who used sticky notes that came with the Sidebar in Vista (did you know that you could drag gadgets to the desktop and close the Sidebar in Vista so that it didn’t eat valuable screen real estate, and then view all of your gadgets on top of your working windows by pressing Windows + space? Yeah, it WAS awesome), but they had their problems. The Windows 7 sticky notes automatically grow in height as you type making for sweet to-do lists, and they can be docked to screen position. Also, since they are actual windows you can move them around using the aforementioned keyboard shortcuts.
One minor, minor gripe is that I seem to have some Windows Update issues, but they only really manifest when I’m at work. Oh, and Cisco apparently refuses to release a VPN Client that is compatible with 64-bit operating systems. Luckily ShrewSoft’s vpn client works like a charm (I’m using 2.1.5-rc-4), imported my Cisco pcf file just fine and is actually faster than the Cisco one ever was (seeming more throughput and faster connect times… AND IT REMEMBERS MY USERID).
The Unicorn, well, that was just that, when I unplug the power cord on my Macbook I still get an estimated battery life of a MIND-BLOWING 50 minutes on a 100% charge. I haven’t had the opportunity to see if that balloons over time actually giving me a 2 hour charge because I’ve been installing updates and development tools and I don’t want to drag that out by coming back and finding my computer is in safety hibernate. Right now I am going to just accept the things that I cannot change and let the Unicorn remain a thing of myth and beauty.
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