Apple Updates Boot Camp With Windows 10 Support

The update will download automatically for those running the latest version of Boot Camp 5.

Installing Boot Camp 6 will let Windows 10 use hardware features unique to a Mac, including the USB-C port, an Apple keyboard, trackpad or mouse and the Thunderbolt port. A Mac’s built-in SD or SDXC card slot and built-in or USB Apple SuperDrive are also supported. What’s neat about Boot Camp is that it offers native access to Windows via a dedicated partition – Boot Camp is not virtualization software. The restriction, then, is not due to fears of slow performance, but is more likely because Apple is unwilling to maintain drivers for a third-party operating system on a computer that is almost 4 years old. As part of the process, you’ll download the latest official drivers and updates for Boot Camp 6 that you’ll need to make the process work. The detailed instructions to install Windows 10 on Mac are provided by Apple on its support page. It’s a smart move for Apple to make haste in allowing users the ability to test out the new OS for themselves, while still keeping them entrenched in the Mac ecosystem. Setting everything up doesn’t take too long and once it’s up and running you can use both OS X and Windows on the same machine.

Since 2006, the Boot Camp tool included with OS X has enabled Mac users to partition their hard drives and dual-boot into Windows. You can find the full list of supported Macs on Apple’s new support document.

TechCrunch’s initial impressions of the first, “final” Windows 10 build remains: Lots of promise, more polish than Windows 8 or Windows 8.1, and a return to desktop preeminence.