Sager 2090 64bit or 32bit vista home premium questions.

Hey guys my Sager 2090 is set to arrive tomorrow and im trying to make my plan on how to set it up. Now i understand that it comes with the Vista 64 bit edition installed by default but as i have heard bad things about this OS such as driver support i was planning on installing the 32 bit edition instead, unless of course someone can tell me the benefits and the bad parts of having 64 bit installed.

My other question is if i do install the 32 bit edition when i get the laptop can i install the 64 bit version later without erasing the 32 bit edition? For example a year later i might want the 64 bit installed so would i be able to "upgrade" my 32 bit installed os into 64 bit or would i have to reinstall the os altogether again. Thanks guys.

Detailed comparisons between the two operating systems are also welcome

 

64 bit allows you to use over 3GB of RAM, and might be a little better tuned to your processor. However, since it's so new, driver support is a little lacking or unstable. I would suggest testing out 64 bit and seeing how well it handles the tasks you'll be doing with the laptop - if it stinks, switch to 32 bit.

I doubt you'll be able to "upgrade" one way or the other - 64 bit is an entirely different kernel, and odds are many of the programs and drivers you'll have installed in one won't work at all on the other.

 

But will 64 give a better performance or noticeable performance boost over 32 bit cept for the ram?

 

When running 64-bit applications, there will be a real performance boost. Whether you will notice it depends on how many seriously CPU-intensive tasks you run on a regular basis. When running 32-bit applications there will be a very slight performance hit that would be very difficult to notice.

 

"Upgrading" from 32 to 64 bit requires a clean (format partition) install because the file system is different.

Incompatibility usually refers to drivers. Your apps will be fine for the most part. There are performance benchmarks online, some do better with 64bit, some worse. Overall, performance is fairly even on 32bit apps. Since the factory is installing 64bit for you, there obviously won't be any driver issues.

 

hey havock, im in the same boat as you. from what i understand, the 64-bit OS will probably not be stable for some time, and like bazald said, performance will suffer a bit if running current generation (dx9) games. Honestly, i feel that the extra security doesn't really merit keeping the 64-bit OS running, so i plan on using the 32-bit version (or even XP) and waiting a few months before I make the switch. I would recommend you do the same.

 

Note that while Sager may support the NP2090 with 64-bit Vista, many external peripherals do not - scanners, printers especially. A friend of mine built a desktop and installed 64-bit Vista - it was the biggest mistake he made. Most of his external hardware does not work because there is no driver support. However there is driver support for the 32-bit Vista.

At this time unless you have a specific need for 64-bit Vista I would use 32-bit.