Macbook Air 13" 2015 - Install Windows 7 64bit

I don't want to derail this thread (should I start a new one?). I'm also in the market for a MacBook Air, 2015. Besides OS X, I want to install Windows 7 and various Linux distros on it as well.

As I understand (I'm new to the Mac ecosystem), both Windows 7 and Linux are unsupported operating systems; I disable secure boot and I'm basically good to go; the process is basically the same both for Windows 7 and Linux. Correct?

The question is, will drivers provided by Microsoft (from the 7 install and upgrade process) be as good as, if not better, than legacy drivers from Apple.com?

The other question about the Windows 7 install process is, should I install

- just the important updates

- the optional updates as well?

You know, on this screen:

Is the 2015 MacBook Air actually a decent Windows 7 box? Or should I bite the bullet and get on with windows 10, as the 2015 MacBook Air is so much better at running Windows 10 than 7?

I have a Macbook Air 11 (Early 2015). I tried to install Windows 7 Pro 64-bit via a USB drive with EFI boot. When it booted up, it went into a black screen. Any idea how to overcome this? Do I need to copy some Apple drivers into the USB drive first similar to Bootcamp?

Just to add that I am using a USB 2.0 thumb drive.

I ran into this problem too and did some digging.

Bootcamp 5.1.2 that shipped with OSX 10.8.x in 2014 supported Win7. If you use a Win 7 install bootdisk on such a system the boot manager will show TWO entries: "windows" and "efi boot". Clicking on "windows" would correct boot from the bootdisk and launch the setup program. Clicking on "efi boot" does NOT launch the setup from the bootdisk, it just boots Windows from the hard drive, if there is one, otherwise it just give you a black screen.

Now, in 2015, Bootcamp 5.1.4 that shipped with OSX Yosemite and Bootcamp 6.0 that ships with El Capitan don't work with Win 7. They don't even let you create a Win 7 bootdisk. If you try to use an old Win 7 bootdisk that you might have lying around, the bootmanager shows only ONE entry: "efi boot". Here again, clicking on this entry does nothing, it just gives you a black screen.

So, I think the issue isn't with Bootcamp itsef. Rather, a) Win 7 boot disks don't work with "efi boot", they apparently need the old style boot process, b) in the newer 2015 Macs the older boot process has been removed and only "efi boot" is present.

As far as I could figure out, there is no way to use Win 7 on the newer Macs. I just decided to throw in the towel and install Win 10.

Very similar discussion at Bootcamp 5.1.4 and Windows 7. Use EFI boot to install W7 64-bit. Do not use W7 32-bit under any circumstances.

Do you see unknown devices in Device Manager after the W& 64-bti EFI installation completes?

You may be able to leverage Apple's 14-day return policy and test.

I would recommend W10 on the new 2015 Macs. They support EFI and are UEFI-compliant. W7 EFI support has many issues. W10 addresses many of them.