64bit Windows (Vista) on Core 2 Duo Dell E1505

I was thinking about this, about to reformat my laptop, and I know core 2 duo supports 64 bit windows.

I need to research the benefits and downsides, and wanted to post and get opinions.

I plan to install build 5744 as a test on my laptop, I know its not as new as the rtm, but its the only legitmate copy I have, and I want to run it for a week to get a feel of how my hardware will react.

Anyone have good knowledge and experience with 64bit windows?

As a user I am:
Heavy photoshop work
Heavy Heavy multitasking (IE, I'll have Maxthon with 10+ tabs on, winamp, photoshop, neat image pro, trillian, etc all at once)
Some rendering
Some *light* gaming (not to be considered a factor really)

I believe most drivers for my hardware exist for x64, but I'll have to see on that.

 

You won't see much benefit in 64bit Windows. If your primary programs run in 32 bit mode and not 64, you won't see any benefit whatsoever, and possibly a slowdown because address pointers eat up more memory.
The only reason to run 64bit Windows is because you have 64bit apps that will benefit, such as your rendering, and possibly Photoshop.

 

Not entirely true. Windows itself will always run 64-bit, so you might see a slight speedup there. (And in 32-bit mode, the pointers won't eat up more memory)

So it shouldn't be slower. On the other hand, I doubt it'll be much faster either, especially if you only run 32-bit apps.

 

I've heard that Windows x64 edition is full of bugs... could Vista be worse?

 

If you're multitaking with 10+ IE, Photoshop and ETC at the same time. Upgrade your ram to 2GB.

 

Definately. I will upgrade the ram as soon as I can afford to. I want to up the Harddrive as well.

Vista x64 went on without a hitch, all drivers were pretty much installed minus some "Base System Devices" I'm searching now. I'll see how much of a compatibility pain this is and back off to 32bit down the road if need be. Pretty impressed that I really didn't have to install anything to get it going online (wireless), and get aero going.

 

Well Vista RTM (64-BIT) is available online with activation c---k. Try to install that and see if those "Base System Devices" problem solves.

 

You heard wrong.
It's not buggy at all. However, for some hardware you'll have a hard time finding drivers that support it. But that's not a bug.

 

Not that I can say I know how I know this, but this issue also exists in the RTM build

I'll have to get the vendor ids and hunt out drivers I guess, though I can't tell what those devices are for, everything is working on the laptop so far.

IE7x64 is rediculously fast, I just wish its interface was as powerful as maxthon or firefox.

 

They're alpha versions, but: http://www.mozilla-x86-64.com/download.html

 

awesome, I'll have to give the a try

 

The advice I have heard from folks like Paul Thurrot is to avoid Vista x64 unless you really need/want it. Apparently many things will not run, namely anti-viruses. This will of course change as developers hopefully take 64-bit seriously.