Windows Vista: Which will you get, 64 bit or 32 bit?

[Guest tmilton]

When Vista is released, which one will you purchase, the 64 bit or the 32 bit version?This is just an informal poll, and am curious about the opinions and preferences of our members here.Also, for those who know, what exactly are the advantages of one over the other?

[greggerm 312]

>When Vista is released, which one will you purchase, the 64>bit or the 32 bit version?I'll get BOTH!(Because it ships with both versions in the box)I'll probably install 64 to see how it runs with my hardware, but will probably end up "keeping" 32 as my primary because of driver issues, but it remains to be seen. Snarky,-Greg

[Guest christianholmes]

>Also, for those who know, what exactly are the advantages of>one over the other?Well, to be honest, since I quit being an MS instructor 2 years ago, I've done little to keep up, but I can tell you the basic premise: 32 bit is the length of the memory pointers- so a 32 bit (4 byte) number has a max value of 4,294,967,295 hence the four gigabyte limitation of windows XP. 64 bit can address up to 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 bits. Is that 18 billion gigabytes? I don't have the patience to figure that one out...Anyway, as more processors are introduced (Intel has promised an 80 core processor in 5 years!), and multi-threaded apps are how everything is done, 64 bit memory addressing will allow much more parallel usage of the system.Do we need a 64-bit OS today? Well, certainly a high-end SQL server could use it, but most of the time we don't. Not to say you won't benefit in the near future- games are really beginning to take advantage of multi-cores although to my knowledge none have really needed more than a 32-bit OS. Unfortunately, FSX won't really benefit- but with a fast multi-core processor, and gobs of memory- it won't hurt- meaning you won't have to bother with the old 'disable uneeded services' dance anymore. Those services can happily run on another core without affecting your FS performance whatsoever.I actually have the final Vista at home now- I got it free through MSDN last night since I'm an MS partner- but I probably won't install it anytime soon. I just don't need it now.

[Guest Traffic]

Even though both DVDs (32 and 64 bit) will ship together for Retail packages, it's my understanding that the Key is good for one or the other; not both. So you better make sure which one you activate. Of course, you can install without activation for 30 days so you can at least try out both.Personally I'm sticking with 32 bit. Why? Because third party and driver support. It's almost nonexistent on 64 bit. The 64 bit promise land is still a mirage in my opinion.

[Guest bjjones]

>Even though both DVDs (32 and 64 bit) will ship together for>Retail packages, it's my understanding that the Key is good>for one or the other; not both.Cant speak for the rest, but I installed Vista Business over the weekend (Got free through MSDN-AA) and you enter your key before it asks which edition to install, if you dont enter one it will let you choose from all the business, home, ultimate etc, if however you do enter the key it shows which editions are available, and in my case it showed both Vista Business X86 and Vista Business X64 as being valid with the key, right now I'm using the latter (the Driver support for which has been pleasantly surprising, with the exception of my Saitek Joystick which has no vista drivers at all right now everything else works fine with the supplied 'out the box' vista drivers)I think in the case of OEM discs however you do have to make the choice, do I purchase an X86 or an X64 disc.

[Guest Traffic]

That's strange. I have an MSDN copy and key given to me from work but it's for Ultimate only. I haven't tried activating the 64bit version as I don't have a 64bit processor (no laughing please).Also, there are 2 DVDs; one specifically for 32bit and the other for 64. When I entered my key for Ultimate, it didn't show two editions.In your case, did you actually activate both successfully? Reading on the Vista NG, quite a few people there adamantly say that the key is good for one or the other, not both.Maybe MSDN keys are good for both?As far as 32 vs 64, I still see a lot of work to be done by 3rd party. There are many bugs and missing support compared to 32. But it's good to see you're having good luck with the 64.

[Tanocapo 4]

For all the reasons Christian said i should installed 64 bit. But knowing Microsoft... Who knows??

[Bob Scott 7,719]

My choice is no choice right now...I am going to wait (for at least 6 months, probably a year or more) to see what develops in the 64-vs-32 bit arena, as well as with Direct-X 10. The costs associated with an OS changeover from XP, including all the various hardware drivers and OS-enhancing utilities that will need replacing (e.g. Partition Magic, defraggers, PGP etc etc) pour cold water on any desire to upgrade before some dazzling new capability emerges.CheersBob ScottATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VSantiago de Chile

[kerosene31 349]

>My choice is no choice right now...I am going to wait (for at>least 6 months, probably a year or more) to see what develops>in the 64-vs-32 bit arena, as well as with Direct-X 10. The>costs associated with an OS changeover from XP, including all>the various hardware drivers and OS-enhancing utilities that>will need replacing (e.g. Partition Magic, defraggers, PGP etc>etc) pour cold water on any desire to upgrade before some>dazzling new capability emerges.>>Cheers>>Bob Scott>ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-V>Santiago de ChileMy thoughts exactly. Everyone keeps asking me, "when are you getting Vista? Are you ready for Vista?" etc.. Too much hassle for too little reward right now. I probably won't bother with Vista until my next PC build. That is unless there is some major pressing need that forces me to get Vista now (which I highly doubt).

[Guest Traffic]

I agree. I would have done the same thing had I not received a free copy of Vista from MSDN. I helped out our IT department at work a long time ago and they got me an MSDN subscription. But I haven't been involved with them for two years now yet they kept my subscription active.I got the Vista copy for "test" purposes only so I guess I'll be testing it for a while now.

[kerosene31 349]

Good review of Vista Ultimatehttp://reviews.cnet.com/Windows_Vista_Ulti...ag=nl.e404#more