Windows 7 on a MacBook Pro
Here we are sitting in the PC Magazine Labs, and it occurs to us: We've got a shiny new Macbook Pro and an early build of Windows 7 on disc, so why not attempt to use one to run the other? — Check out photos, video, and a run down of the process, after the jump.
Context & Ripple Effects
By late 2008 the idea of Microsoft's OS running on Apple hardware was no longer exotic — Windows and Mac OS had been shown running side-by-side as early as 2006 — but this experiment lands at a charged moment: Windows 7's early details had only just emerged months earlier, framing it around a Software + Services pitch. Running an early build on a brand-new MacBook Pro is both a stress test of the pre-release OS and a check on how portable Windows really is.
First-order effects
- The PC Magazine Labs demonstration shows an early Windows 7 install working on Apple's current laptop hardware, giving readers one of the first hands-on data points about the OS outside conventional PCs.
- Apple gains nothing directly, but its machines are publicly validated as capable Windows platforms — useful for buyers deciding between a Mac running Windows or a native PC.
Second-order effects
- If Windows 7 proves comfortable on Mac hardware, expect more cross-platform experiments like Windows 7 being pushed onto unusual devices such as the HTC Shift, eroding the assumption that an OS ships tied to specific machines.
- Performance questions become central: whether the OS is genuinely faster or just smarter (as PC Pro probes a week later) will determine whether enthusiasts bother dual- or multi-booting at all.
Third-order effects
- The pattern points toward operating systems as portable software layers rather than hardware-bound products — a shift that eventually makes hybrid setups routine rather than lab curiosities.
- If Microsoft's next OS runs well everywhere, competitive pressure moves from platform lock-in toward which ecosystem offers the better overall experience, with Apple and Microsoft increasingly competing on the same physical hardware.
The trend: Operating systems are steadily decoupling from the hardware they ship on, turning cross-platform installs from hacks into mainstream expectations.