Afraid of installing Vista again....

[exaltair]

Specs:

Inspiron E1505
C2D 2.0ghz
1gb Ram
160gb 5400rpm HD
WiFi, BT, DVD-RW
ATI X1300 Mobility

I'm only considering the 64 bit version, because it seems quite pointless to me to run 32 bit Vista when XP is just fine in 32 bits. I could perhaps run 32 bit Vista as a last resort , as I get Vista Business CD keys for free from my school's connection to MSDNAA.

Now, what are you ya'lls opinions? Is installing in 64 bits worth it (lack of driver support for some things, software support), and is 32 bits vista worth it since XP works well enough? How much faster is ReadyBoost to a system's responsiveness?

 

[Shawn]

32bit

 

[Mem]

I'm going with 64bit version,as for drivers you should see a few when 30th January arrives.

Bottomline its a call only you can make.

 

[taskgreen]

32

 

[Piuc2020]

I'm doing 32 bit for all my machines, including my madly powerful Mac Pro, I just don't see the point in going 64 bit... compatiblity issues and no advantage in performance

 

[Damn Dirty Ape]

32 here as well.

 

[greylica]

128

 

[EndGame]

Going with 64 here......have drivers for everything except my scanner and very few problems overall.

 

[stelleg151]

Is there free update to 64?

 

[xtknight]

I'd recommend 32. I use 64-bit Vista but I'll have to admit it, I like pain. I don't know when ATI will get around to releasing 64-bit/Vista drivers for my TV tuner (ATI TV Wonder USB 2.0). I figure I'll get some speed boost out of 64 though, so that's why I'm really trying to stick with it. XP64 definitely seems faster than XP32 to me, and I'd assume the difference is the same with the Vistas.

 

[Mem]

I don't know when ATI will get around to releasing 64-bit/Vista drivers for my TV tuner (ATI TV Wonder USB 2.0). I figure I'll get some speed boost out of 64 though, so that's why I'm really trying to stick with it. XP64 definitely seems faster than XP32 to me, and I'd assume the difference is the same with the Vistas.

Most of the companies are not releasing drivers until 30th Jan or early Feb,mainly because the official release date is not until 30th.

 

[SoundTheSurrender]

do you need to buy a 64 or 32 bit cd or are they both on the DVD? I got Vista from my department in school and I have a 32 bit processor.

 

[Zoinks]

I thought figuring out which of 4 versions was bad enough, now i have to figure out 32 or 64?!? Damn.

 

[greylica]

Originally posted by: Zoinks
I thought figuring out which of 4 versions was bad enough, now i have to figure out 32 or 64?!? Damn.

And to help you choose very wrong there is two Vista's that is not Real Vista, Home Basic and Starter, they are so caped that don't have anything usable.

 

[n7]

Originally posted by: greylica
128

FTW!


Still not enough 64-bit support for me to be interested; gonna stick with 32 for a while still.

 

[masteraleph]

Originally posted by: greylica

Originally posted by: Zoinks
I thought figuring out which of 4 versions was bad enough, now i have to figure out 32 or 64?!? Damn.

And to help you choose very wrong there is two Vista's that is not Real Vista, Home Basic and Starter, they are so caped that don't have anything usable.

Seeing as you aren't supposed to even be able to buy Starter outside of 3rd world nations, that shouldn't be an issue for most posters on here.

As for those questioning the 4 versions, I'll state for the upteen-millionth time:

XP Home->Home Basic
XP MCE-> Home Premium
XP Pro-> Business
XP Pro+MCE-> Ultimate

There. Done. Oh, and MS is pushing MCE heavily, so they've crippled Home Basic.

Then again, for the OEM channel, that shouldn't really be an issue. Take Dell- At the moment, their only desktops that you can even order XP Home with are the absolute cheapest configs of the C521 and E521 (every model above the cheapest config is MCE, and all E520s are MCE). For those cheapest configs, the upgrade to MCE- and they're pushing it heavily- is $10. On their laptops, the two cheaper (out of 3) configs of the Inspiron 1501 default to XP Home, again with the cheap upgrade. The 1505 and up and the higher 1501 config default to MCE. And before we start talking about capabilities- only the cheapest model of the 1501 will even allow you to config for 512MB of ram. Every other consumer laptop Dell is selling has a minimum of 1GB.

Most home users, who buy from OEMs, will never even know that Vista Home Basic exists. Or even if they do, they'll never even have the opportunity to get it.