August 9th, 2007
Update 2007.12.23 — These drivers are out of date. Find Boot Camp 2.0 drivers here.
Apple released Boot Camp 1.4 Beta today, and as with Boot Camp 1.3 I’ll be having a look at what’s inside the package. Apple’s Boot Camp web site boasts the following improvements:
Support for keyboard backlighting (MacBook Pro only)
Apple Remote pairing
Updated graphics drivers
Improved Boot Camp driver installer
Improved international keyboard support
Localization fixes
Updated Windows Help for Boot Camp
As a quick comment on these improvements: keyboard backlighting has been 100% functional since Boot Camp 1.3; if you’re using a MacBook Pro you won’t find any NVIDIA driver updates in this release, and finally, who in their right mind would read the Windows Help, anyway? I suspect this release is mostly an update to enable support for the latest iMacs.
Drivers and commentary relate to Windows XP SP2 32bit on a Santa-Rosa MacBook Pro 15".
Installs Apple-specific bluetooth support. Even though Windows will recognize bluetooth peripherals just fine without these packages installed. They also add a bluetooth preferences utility, which you can find in the Control Panel.
Enable proper trackpad support. The Composite Uninstaller, despite its cryptic name, also contains trackpad drivers.
Installs the Apple keyboard manager service, which allows you to use the volume, brightness and eject controls on your keyboard.
Installs DMA, memory and trusted platform module — otherwise known as TPM — drivers.
Installs infra-red remote support. Updated to version 2.0.0.1 (16/07/2007).
Installs iSight drivers. Despite what is claimed in the release notes, these drivers have not been updated. I suspect, therefore, that the iSight device will still display as an unknown device in the Windows device manager. It’ll work fine, however. The driver is version 1.3.0.0 (09/04/2007).
Wireless network card drivers. This model MacBook Pro has an Atheros 802.11 b/g/n card. Drivers for model 5211 remain at version 5.3.0.35 (05/04/2007), model 5416 is updated to version 6.0.3.94 (26/06/2007).
Sound card drivers. Both SigmaTel and RealTek drivers were not updated. They remain at version 5.10.5185.0 (22/08/2006) and 5.10.0.5440 (05/07/2007).
Ethernet drivers. Marvell provides more recent drivers versions for the YK51X86 card. You can find these on their driver page. Apple has included version 10.12.7.3 (23/03/2007).
Intel chipset drivers. The MacBook Pro doesn’t have Intel ethernet or graphics chips, so don’t install those. Intel provides more recent versions of this driver on their 965m chipset page. Apple has included version 8.2.0.1002 (06/12/2006).
Despite Apple’s claims, these drivers were not updated. Boot Camp 1.4 includes version 101.34 for the 8600M GT, and version 158.29 for Mac Pros and iMacs. I’ve made a more recent version — 163.14 — available here.