Xp, vista 32 or vista 64.

Hello, i've recently purchased the Asus N81VG ( http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/11417...ta-Home-Premium-Laptop-Notebook/Product.html).

It has 4gb of ram and comes installed with Vista 32 bit. While it's on its way i was hoping someone here could help me decide on the appropriate OS.

I'll be using the laptop for working/gaming and was wondering whether xp, vista 32 or vista 64 would be the best choice / supported by the hardware. Also if i went with vista 64 how could i obtain a copy? Thank you.

 

32 bit only recognize 3Gb of RAM, Vista 32 after SP1 can recognize up to 3,5 RAM but only uses 3 GB.

64 bit will give you a better performance in 64 bit-designed software and also will use the 4gb of your system, but there's a few softwares that are giving some compability problems with x64.

 

Thanks for the reply. Based on that I'd be more inclined to get 64bit if that's the case. I've heard that if it's OEM or something you're not eligible to get the 64bit sent to you from the microsoft website? Does that mean i'd have to buy it from retail? I thought there'd be a way to upgrade it.

 

Here is what I found at MS's website: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932795

 

This is incorrect; any and all 32-bit Operating systems have 4GB of memory addressable space, as such, if nothing else on your system took from this space, you could have and use 4GB of ram in a 32-bit OS. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Whats more is, system ram has the lowest priority of this addressable space and such, gets whatever is left over. Ive seen people using 32-bit versions of both Vista and XP with up to 3.7GB of ram.

As for Vista SP1,that is untrue as well; SP1 gave Vista the ability to recognize all of your ram. So if you had Vista x32 but 4GB in your system, your system properties would read "4GB", even though you couldnt really use it all.

OT: Vista x64 has my vote. How to get it? I would say your local computer store, or even your local BB or Walmart if the price is good. Or, a place like newegg or tigerdirect will work as well.

 

You say you just bought the computer? Does Asus have a free-upgrade for Windows 7 program? If so, I recommend keeping Vista 32-bit on the computer for now, and on Oct 22 when Windows 7 is released, assuming you get a free upgrade, getting Windows 7 and installing the 64-bit version (W7 comes with both 32-bit and 64-bit disks for all upgrades/retail copies).

 

Thank you everyone for the replies. That sounds a brilliant idea Crash, i looked into it and Asus does indeed provide free Windows 7 upgrades. If that then includes the 64 bit version with it, i think i'll definitely be going for that option Cheers!

 

You're welcome! Microsoft has said that every upgrade and retail copy of Windows 7 (except for the Starter version) will contain both 32-bit and 64-bit disks, so I'm assuming you'll get both. However, Asus may choose to only ship one of them (the 32-bit version) to you.

I don't know the details of the free upgrade plan (ie whether or not the disks come straight from Microsoft or from Asus), but hopefully you'll get both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

 

Pretty sure whatever bit version you have Asus will send you the same ie- 32 for 32 or 64 for 64bit.

http://event.asus.com/2009/windows7/

 

Ah, from question 10...

Unfortunately that leads me to believe that you will only get either the 32-bit version or the 64-bit version, whichever your computer initially came with.

If that's the case, I say you go with Windows 7, even if it's 32-bit. It's more worth it to use W7 than it is to be able to use the last few MB of RAM.

 

+1 for win 7. Win 7 > vista > xp >> apple's OS's

If you're a university/college student, use MSDNAA to get an x64 key. If not, head to the win 7 subforums and you can get more info on a loophole (ie. joining ieee as a student member)