Upgrading to Vista 64bit

Hello, just for info, I've also posted this question on the official Asus forum HERE, but this forum seems to get a bit more traffic

I'm looking to purchase the Asus M50VC laptop next week, as it's by far the best suited laptop I've seen out there for this price range. The one concern I have though is the 32Bit Vista & 4 GB memory it comes with, as all my research points to the fact that vista wont really be able to utilise all the extra memory. So I thought I'd look into upgrading to 64bit vista instead. All my favourite software work fine for 64bit, so no problems there. But I do have a few questions:

Does anyone know if Asus can provide the 32bit-->64bit upgrade media? I've read that for retail purchases, MS will provide this DVD for free (well, just the cost of shipping), but that for OEM vista, this has to come from the vender.
If not, what is the best way of upgrading to 64bit vista? I am thinking of upgrading to Ultimate anyway, so can I use the online upgrade for ultimate and then go via the MS DVD route, or would I need to go out and but a retail version of ultimate (much more expensive, but comes with the 64bit DVD)

Once I manage to upgrade to 64bit, will the laptop actually work with vista 64bit?
I have spotted some drivers to download, such as for bluetooth etc, so does this mean the majority of the system will work straight after a 64bit install?

I appreciate anyone's thoughts / suggestions / ideas or any other useful reading material as I wait to get my new laptop!

David

 

What to look for before you go x64:

1. 64 bit capable processor. All of them are nowadays.
2. 64 bit support for your machine. Drivers, software, etc.

You are all set .

 

Thanks Wishmaker.
The processor does indeed support 64 bit.
I've also read other people using the M50 series who are on x64 (although not specifically M50VC), so my guess is that the drivers are out there.
I'm hoping to here from people who have perhaps done the upgrade and can let me know how it went, if all the drivers were available etc.
And also about the best method to upgrade, and if ASUS will provide the upgrade media, which MS provides for free to to people purchases a retail version of Vista.

Many thanks

David

 

I just did that now. I can say that...all the apps from your Asus 32 bit CD will work. Find the 64 bit drivers, there is a thread here.

 

I upgraded my N80Vn-GP011C to Vista x64 last week, using an OEM disk that I had from an earlier desktop build. A couple things you need to know before going ahead: Make sure x64 drivers are available for your model, which they probably are. Also, make sure that you back up the OEM activation certificate and serial number from your current install (this is DIFFERENT from the serial number that is on the sticker on the bottom of your laptop). This thread: ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=120228/) has all the information about how to do this. Good luck!

 

Did you post in another thread? At any rate, it's not remotely worth the money. 32-bit Windows can't use the full 4GB, but 64-bit OSes use more RAM...so the end result at 4GB is basically a wash, and 32-bit Windows is more compatible.

Personally, even if I got a 64-bit version for free, I'd still stick with 32-bit.

 

x64 uses WOW. CS4 Master uses 2GB of RAM when it opens and it takes half the time on x64 than on x86. I can see why you would stick to 32 bit.

 

That's one reason I'm not 100% sure about this Sony laptop I'm also considering. For me, the n80nv shipping with a 32-bit OS is a nice selling point!

I had really hopped they'd somehow manage this transition easier, more seamlessly for us. Like in my fantasy I just wanted one version of Vista-just 64-bit, that somehow didn't add any compatibility issues. I hate that 32-bit code has to run in WoW (so virtually if not EVERYTHING I'd be running) and then of course they dropped the 16-bit WoW, which I actually use on a daily basis.

 

I have x64 on my N80 and there are odd problems/incompatibilities all over the place. I do not notice a jump in gaming performance or memory utilization. I'd stick with x86 for a while longer.

 

I know Mide is having some problems with x64, but I have the same model notebook as him (N80Vn-GP011c), and I'm not having any compatibility problems with x64. Also, I've been running x64 on my home desktop for 7 months without any issues (8GB of RAM on that machine). I don't know of any real-world performance advantages to having x64 on your laptop, but neither do I think you'll necessarily face disadvantages. And it seems like notebook manufacturers may be in the midst of a switch to x64 - I know at retail stores like Best Buy there are a LOT more notebooks with x64 installed this year than there was at this time last year. This suggests to me that we might be on the cusp of a crossover, where more applications begin being written specifically to take advantage of x64. If this is the case, you might want to think about x64.

 

@Adam8281 - Let me list a few of the problems I've been having and see if you don't have the same issues with your system or is my computer somehow defective:

Quicktime - In both Firefox and IE if you go to apple.com/trailers and watch anything, the quicktime box will be messed up. The bottom-most part is supposed to have the status bar, play button, and volume control and on my system it's all blacked out although if you click where the buttons are supposed to be it will work. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling several times with the same result.

Freeware Programs don't work
-PeerGuardian
-CDBurnerXP
-ImgBurn

Acrobat Acrobat 7.0 cannot load a print driver because it is 64-bit. Yes this is Adobe's fault but it's still an incompatibility.
IE 64-Bit does not have a compatible flash client because it's 64-bit. Same reasoning.
64-bit IE flash

I have also experienced a total loss of network connection where for 1 whole minute I lose connection. Later I'll be reinstalling XP-x86 to see if this is a hardware issue or not but for now I'm blaming this OS.