Going from Vista 32bit to 64bit on my XPS M1330 question

I just upgraded the memory in my XPS M1330 to 4GB, so if I choose to I can now go from 32bit to 64bit Vista. It came with 32bit Vista Home Premium, but I have a 64 bit Vista Ultimate upgrade disc. Is it possible to upgrade from 32 bit Vista Home Premium to 64bit Vista Ultimate, or do I have to have a full 64 bit Vista Ultimate disc? And one last thing, is there really a big difference in performance going from 32bit to 64bit? I don't do anything very intensive with it, but if it makes everything seen snappier than I would do it.

 

i wont upgrade to 64 bit yet.... the amount of performance gain isnt worth the hassles IMO...

 

If you don't use the computer intensively or run games, you won't notice a difference. To notice small increases in performance, you have to push the system. That said, it only makes sense to run a 64-bit OS when you have 4GB of RAM. If you don't, ~0.5GB of that RAM will never be used.

 

I don't see the point of not going with 64-bit. I've had very little hassles with it... everything has worked almost perfectly thus far. The only thing that I had to do was download a .sys file for RMClock to work properly, and I was done.

Since programs are now starting to switch over to 64-bit, you'll regret when the next version of your favorite program comes out and you can't use it. I've used a few 64-bit programs (7-zip's 64-bit version, for instance) and I've loved the increase in performance. I've not done a test myself, but I've seen reports of 30% increase in performance vs the 32-bit version. Definitely not something to sneeze at.

I'd recommend checking out this website for all the 64-bit apps you can handle:
http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?showforum=3

 

Thanks for the responses. So if I choose to do it, can I use the 64bit Vista Ultimate upgrade disc?

 

In my experience with Vista upgrade disks, 32bit sticks to 32bit and 64 sticks to 64. In other words, I don't think you're able to upgrade a 32bit Vista system with a 64bit upgrade disk. I could be wrong though. Chuck the disk in the system and see where it leads you. You are able to cancel the upgrade at any point (until it actually starts installing) and if I'm correct, the disk won't let you install anyway so no harm done.

 

It is a clean install. I upgraded to ultimate 64bit 30 minutes after I rec'd my laptop. It will pop up with a warning stating you cannot upgrade from a 32bit to a 64bit, that an installation over the OS is required (not exact words, but close)

 

Dude put in 64-bit....I have it and you'll love it. There is a thread in here by Terubin (i probably spelled it wrong)...Great write up, takes you step by step and puts all the drivers right there in the first post for you

 

Can someone provide the link for the 64bit drivers and article? I tried to search under the name Terubin but I'm not getting anything. Thank you in advance.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=158277&page=1