Boot Camp Drivers for MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2012) and compatibility with newer Windows 10 releases

Both W10 1607 and W10 1809 should work. Try W10 1809 first, before you fallback to the older release. The BC drivers for this Mac are 6.0.6136 (as of this post).

Also, Apple has been updating EFI versions, so this old workhorse may still have some oomph left. It is a very reliable Mac. This Mac is also a preUEFI Mac, and is expected to remain one.

Yebubbleman wrote:

Right. My question is merely: are the Boot Camp drivers for this Mac (6.0.6136) supporting 1809?

Yes.

Are they even supporting current Windows 10 versions?

No.

It seems like they haven't updated them since the 1607 era which is what prompts my question. Or is it one of those things where I can use the Boot Camp drivers that 6.0.6136 gives me and then update some of them from vendors from there?

The supported method is How to use Apple Software Update for Windows - Apple Support.

As for my Mac being pre-UEFI, what's the cut-off on that? I thought all Intel Macs were UEFI-based. Unless you're referring to the dropping of the BIOS compatibility layer that helped boot versions of Windows earlier than Windows 8?

• 2012 and older Macs are BIOS (CSM-BIOS with Hybrid MBR).
• 2013-2014 Macs support both BIOS and UEFI. Some early 2015 models are also BIOS mode only.
• 2015 and later Macs are UEFI-only.

And are you saying that Apple is still updating the kind of firmware this Mac has (pre-UEFI?)? Or are you saying that they're only updating the newer type of firmware?

It is unlikely that 2012-2014 Macs will change their basic EFI (and CSM-BIOS) and become UEFI-only.

I'm currently on Mojave. Do I need to move to Catalina to get the newer firmware updates?

Yes. All EFI updates are now bundled into macOS updates.

Yebubbleman wrote:

• So, just to confirm you're saying that:

If given the option between Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB 2016 (v1607-based) and Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019 (v1809-based), there's no compelling reason (at least as far as support with the drivers Apple currently offers) to pick the former, yeah?

My recommendation would be the 1607. Newer release create more issues the Intel HD4K GPU.

• If given the option between Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019 and Windows 10 Pro (no earlier than v1909), I should pick the former as the Boot Camp drivers are likely not supporting newer Windows 10 releases (than v1809, at least), yeah?

If 1903 or later can be clean installed, it is a better choice, due to the SysPrep challenges during the 1903 upgrade.

• I need to install the latest release of Catalina to up my firmware updates (which makes sense and is in line with what I know of Apple's current practices), but there likely aren't going to be firmware updates for this particular MacBook Pro, yeah?

Start at https://eclecticlight.co/2019/10/31/a-plain-guide-to-mac-firmware-and-its-problems/.

I suppose I can, before converting this into a full-time Windows box, install what will presumably be the last point release of Catalina (when 10.15.6 is formally released). Does Apple tend to put out firmware updates in the Security Update releases that are put out for versions of macOS when they are no longer the latest (and are one or two versions behind current)? Or does that practice typically end once the OS is done moving version numbers?

Security updates are independent of the macOS updates.

Yebubbleman wrote:

Also, I'm not doubting you on the bit about the Mac Firmware types, but I'd like to look up more information on that. Do you know where I can find more out? Wikipedia, Mactracker, and the Apple Support sites only have so much information (the best of which isn't even as thorough as what you've told me here).

Start at https://eclecticlight.co/2019/10/08/which-efi-firmware-should-your-mac-be-using-version-4/ .