SZ 32 bit vs 64 bit Vista Upgrade

I have a sony SZ260P that I purchased with XP pro 6 months ago. The chip (Intel core duo 1.83mh) is only a 32 bit processor. I have been reading this forum and following the best I can and understand that my cpu can be upgraded without a bios update but I haven't been able to find any posts that say whether or not the current bios will fully support the Core 2 Duo power management or speedstop? I have watched pricing on the T7400 and it seems like newegg has good prices. My question is, if I upgrade to Vista will the 64 bit of the Core 2 Duo be a worthy upgrade? Does my SZ bios fully support the Core 2 Duo or will battery life be an issue? Are there 32 and 64 bit versions of Vista and if I use the 64 bit version do I need 64 bit software eg., MS Office, Norton Antivirus etc. and other applications? Thanks in advance for clarification.
Jimmy

 

In my ongoing thought process as to whether to upgrade my sz260p for Vista or to trade her in for new model I ran across an article about the future of hard drives. Hitachi is coming Q1 2007' with 200gig 7200rpm a hybrid drive - wow! Read more here
http://news.com.com/Hitachi+plans+hybrids,+encryption+for+notebook+drives/2100-1044_3-6131326.html

I am still wondering if anyone who has traded the yonah for merom on a 100 or 200 series SZ has comments about bios support for speedstop and battery management. I am going to get my hands on a chip soon enough and find out for myself. I will post an answer if no one else posts first.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=66949

 

Yes, there is a 64 bit version of Vista and no, you won't only have to use 64 bit applications on it, 32 bit programs will work as well. Battery life should not take a hit from the upgrade, if it truly is possible, which I pretty am sure it is.

 

If you want to learn how this works, google for WoW64 (this is the emulator, it stands for something like "Win32 on Win64"). Quick summary:

32-bit programs will run under the WoW64 emulator
64-bit programs will run as native 64-bit processes
.NET apps compiled for "Any CPU" will run as native 64-bit processes (I assume a similar thing is true for Java apps but haven't looked into it).

 

what version is the upgrade they are passing out if you got a core 2 duo laptop recently? which is the business version, 32 or 64 bit?

 

After re-reading many previous posts I am pretty sure the upgrade from Core Duo to Core 2 Duo is very possible and the current bios for the SZ's 100-200 series don't need to be upgraded. In addition to posts on this forum I found a user review on www.newegg.com for the T7400 core 2 processor as quoted:

BEGIN QUOTE

"Yes, you CAN upgrade at least a few notebooks.
Reviewed By: Beefman on 12/6/2006 Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 week to 1 month

Pros: So, you take yer Sony SZ-110/120/140/160 etc etc that's now out of warranty and you turn it over. You unscrew the funny shaped multi-rectangle metal plate on the bottom and expose the cpu and heatpipe/heatsink. You unscrew that and expose that poor tired T2300/2400/2500. You take a flathead screwdriver and unlock the socket, being careful to note and follow orientation so you don't break anything. You take the old proc out... and drop the new one in. You clean the heatsink and CPU with Arctic Silver's thermal grease cleaner/prep stuff. You put on a dab of AS5 , you lock the CPU in, put the heatsink back, screw it all back together, and boot into brand new Core 2 Duoness.... all this, without even a bios flash!

Cons: You could totally hose the notebook if you don't know what you're doing... and be left with a pretty Sony-shaped large paperweight.

Other Thoughts: For anyone with an older SZ/slower SZ, this is a no-brainer upgrade. Trash that 1.46 Celeron, toss the 1.66 Core Duo and get some SPEED"

END QUOTE

I guess I will do the upgrade myself. As for which processor I am looking at the T7600 clocked at 2.33mhz. I think now that the Quad Core is coming out the next round of price drops should be around the corner. I think my SZ260 modded to 2.33 Core 2 and a new Hitachi 200gig 7200 rpm hybrid drive should make a snappy laptop for another year or two. The only question I need answered before I plop down my cash on the T7600 is how compatible will the new Intel Quad Cores be with socket 775??????

 

If you already have a Core Duo, I would recommend you stick with it for the life of the notebook. Otherwise you're going to spend money on a second processor for very little performance gain. Then you're going to throw away a 6-month old $250 processor that nobody wants to buy for more than peanuts.

Not to mention the fact that Vista is still relatively young, and needs to be given time to have the bugs and driver support issues worked out. I'd give it until at least SP1 is released before even considering a move to Vista. Also, you can run 32-bit Vista on your Core Duo--that's another option.

I also have a 6-month old T2500, but have no intention of upgrading to Core 2 Duo. I also plan to use XP until something in Vista comes along that makes me feel like I need to upgrade. Otherwise, I'll stick with the more mature and supported OS and give Vista some time to be more widely supported. If things go my way, I won't switch to Vista until I buy my next system 12-18 months from now.

Your current hardware is more than powerful enough for most users. Why spend more if you don't have to? Perhaps socking that money away for your next system would give you a better return on your investment.

Just my $.02 .

 

I'm confused a bit. Isn't this Vista 64-bit OS? And I remember during the Express Upgrade sign-up thing, my SZ qualified for 32-bit version. So XP Pro brings only 32-bit version of Vista??

 

Windows Vista comes with 64 bit and 32 bit versions. Stick with 32bit, there is NO POINT of using 32 bit version since most of application and software are written for 32 bit. Plus, unless you have 4GB+ of RAM.

I think you should save the money for your future notebook, instead of upgrading to Core 2 Duo.

 

I believe the majority of companies supporting the Express Upgrade program are limiting the upgrade to the 32-bit version of Vista. There are some exceptions though, as apparently some companies (Asus, if I remember correctly) are offering the choice between 32-bit and 64-bit versions. I think 64-bit applications will take a while to mature and stabilize though, so I actually recommend waiting a while before using Vista.

 

Chris, (that is my son's name also)

All of what you said is conservatively true. I still have the 1 gig of (2 x 512mb) memory that I took out to upgrade to 2gig sitting in a drawer. If I spring for the new processor and a hybrid drive I might as well have bought the next system. I am however a tech junkie so I ponder. I might follow your logic but if prices drop a bit more on the Core 2 (and they will) I will have no choice but to upgrade . As for the Hitachi 200gig 7200 rpm hard drive, that is a no brainer. I will make that move as soon as they hit the market.

Depending on how fast boot times with the Vista and hybrid drive combos really work I might then be looking to the Core 2 Duo. It is all speculation at this point but spending $800 to get another year or two out of this SZ wouldn't be such a bad idea if the SZ doesn't develop too many creeks or suffer loose hinges. The 3xx series SZ are Core 2 Duo and the 4xx are the pre installed MS Vista operating system. So the 5xx series would be the hybrid drive 64 bit Vista which is what I am considering creating. We are lucky that Sony finally gave us a notebook that has this amount of flexibility.

I had my SRX87 for at least two years. And after that I had my TR3P for another two or so years. This SZ has plenty of power as is and if I bump it to fully take advantage of Vista I would be happy. I haven't found another laptop that would compell me to switch, not even the X60 Lenovo. Also, I bought 3 batteries, external charger, 3 power supplies, and the dock so I am pretty much feeling strong about the SZ. Not to mention the PSP, LocationFree TV, Sony Alpha Camera, DSC-T10 Ultra compact camera and Sony TRV10 camcorder. All of which work nicely together with the proprietary MS Duo Sticks. I think Sony is overpriced but it looks cool and I can tell the designers are thinking about uniformity across the brand. If money was the most important thing I would still be using my TR3P as it was doing everything well when I sold it. **** for that matter I still have a IBM/Lenovo T40 with a 1.7gig processor, 1 gig ram, and a 7200 hard drive that I could be using.

On a side note I might buy a ultra mobile tablet like the Fujitsu or Samsung (next gen) when they are more .pdf friendly or maybe the next generation Sony Reader will be wifi and touch screen and that would be my supplement.

For now I ponder the idea of having a very nice SZ notebook that I can travel with and play MX vs ATV Unleashed, Need For Speed Carbon, and watch movies and than still take it to the office and dock it for my desktop replacement. In conclusion, I would spend a few dollars to keep it on top of the heap and I do enjoy being the beta guy for Vista. Did I mention that I am a tech junkie.....??

Regards,

Jimmy