vista on inspiron 32bit only? any reason to upgrade to 4gb?

i'm hoping (but being realistically pessimistic) that dell.ca sells 64bit vista,.. but if it sells 32bit only like in the US then is there any reason to upgrade to 4gb of ram?

i was under the impression that 32 bit versions only see up to 3gb (+ or - depending on how it sees other memory (video,etc) on your system) and there is a work around for vista to see extra system memory over 3gb but it seems like a bit of work and wondering if it will really use that extra memory.

anyone have input?

also, if i do have an option to go to 64bit is there compatibility issues? i've already decided to bite it and use vista over xp but i know i'll probably run into problems (main useage: ms office, adobe acrobat, photshop, illustrator, flash, director, after effects, premiere, dreamweaver, coreldraw, 3dstudio max and a bunch of smaller apps)

thx in advance.

 

Is there any reason you want to go 4 gigs? My Vista start up has a footprint of about 600 megs. After playing some games and whatnot, and opening many programs...maybe 1 gig?

 

I have a copy of Vista Ultimate with both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions and am debating which to instsall. Anyone installed 64-bit and have any comments or opinions?

 

64-bit is a lot more secure than 32-bit, can address to the full 4GB of RAM installed, and has a small performance increase as well. The performance increase is only getting bigger, and it's expansion is only getting bigger too - definitely go for it!

The only thing you need to look out for, is you need to use special drivers...but there are 64-bit drivers for every device, not necessarily on the Dell website though - so it can be kinda hard to find, but if you need help just search or post in the forums

 

As far as the 64-bit version is concerned one advantage is you can make full use of the 4 GB ram without any problems but drivers for all devices are hard to find for 64-bit.... Besides for the apps to you need the 64-bit version of the app if you want to run in 64-bit mode or else you will be running that app in 32-bit compatibility mode only.... I think you can better wait for a little more time till 64-bit gains more popularity and then move on to it....

 

They aren't really HARD TO FIND, just took me about an hour and I have the drivers for everything...

 

You can upgrade both Vista and RAM later (for a reasonably low cost / no risk); If I were you, then I’d go with the cheaper option (unless they are giving 4GB at a discounted price). 2GB RAM is generally enough for now, but in another year or 2, 4GB and Vista 64 would be the norm.

 

i thought all vista was 64bit.
i was on the windows site and i didn't see any mention of 32bit only version. in all the OS software CD's they package with the dell there is no 64bit version included?